Sailing and 7-a-side football's slim chances of Paralympic reinstatement ended by IPC

Sailing's slim hopes of being reinstated to the Paralympic programme have been officially ended ©ISAF

Sailing and 7-a-side football’s faint hopes of being included on the Tokyo 2020 programme appear to have been ended after the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Governing Board confirmed their exclusion at a meeting in the Japanese capital, which concluded today.

The International Federations from both sports presented letters to the Governing Board in Tokyo in an attempt to get themselves reinstated, but the IPC claimed the decision made in Abu Dhabi in February was final.

It seemingly marks the end of the International Sailing Federation’s (ISAF) slim chances of having sailing included on the Tokyo 2020 programme, marking the end of a campaign that has seen the sport become divided in recent months.

This week, ISAF launched a new Paralympic Development Programme in a direct response to the sport’s exclusion from Tokyo 2020.

Sailing was taken off the Paralympic programme mainly due to a lack of world reach, with only 30 countries practicing the sport at the performance level, two short of IPC requirements.

Pyeongchang 2018 was another of the main topics on the agenda and it has been announced that snowboarding will be a standalone sport at the event for the first time.

Snowboarding formed part of the Alpine skiing programme at Sochi 2014 and featured just two medal events, however, this has been provisionally increased to 10 for Tokyo 2020.

Paralympic snowboarding will be a standalone sport at Pyeongchang 2018 for the first time ©Getty Images

The wheelchair curling competition has also been slightly adjusted as 12 teams will now compete instead of 10, and the medal programmes for the remaining sports of Alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, ice sledge hockey remain unchanged.

Up to 670 athletes are due to compete in Tokyo, a 24 per cent increase from Sochi, in 80 medal events.

The new IPC Classification Code, an element of Paralympic sport that continues to cause controversy, will also be put forward as a motion at November's IPC General Assembly in Mexico City.

Elsewhere, despite the setback concerning their sport’s Paralympic future, ISAF were granted provisional IPC membership at the meeting.

The International Federation for CP Football (IFCPF), World Taekwondo Federation and the National Paralympic Committee of St Vincent and Grenadines were also given provisional membership.

The membership of each organisation will now be put forward as motions at the General Assembly.

The meetings came after IPC President Sir Philip Craven met with Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe to discuss how preparations are going for Tokyo 2020.

The final athletics programme for Rio 2016 has also been approved and more details will be announced shortly.