London 2012 is the first Games in history to hold specific Paralympic test events, which kicked off in December with goalball at the Copper Box.

Wheelchair rugby became the second Paralympic only test event when it was staged at the Basketball Arena last month, with wheelchair tennis and Paralympic archery being the third and fourth Paralympic test events respectively.

The four-day wheelchair tennis competition here at Eton Manor will run until Sunday (May 6), the same length of time as the Paralympic archery tournament.

The wheelchair tennis test event – the Eton Manor Wheelchair Tennis International – has some of the world's best players in action including Dutch legend Esther Vergeer (pictured below), who has been unbeaten since January 2003, and Britain's Peter Norfolk (pictured top), the double Paralympic champion.


The Paralympic archery test event – the London Para Archery International Tournament – will take place at The Royal Artillery Barracks.

It features 56 of the world's best Paralympic archers, including Danielle Brown (pictured below), the 24-year-old from Yorkshire, England, who has reflex sympathetic dystrophy in the feet and, therefore, competes sitting down or leaning on a stool.

Brown is the reigning Paralympic champion in the women's individual compound and made history at the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games, becoming the first Paralympian to win gold in an able bodied event at the Games when she won the women's team compound event alongside team mates Nicky Hunt and Nichola Simpson.

Two further Paralympic test events will get underway in the coming days with boccia at the Basketball Arena from May 5 until 7 and Paralympic athletics at the Olympic Stadium on May 8.


The Paralympic athletics test event – the Visa London Disability Athletics Challenge – will mark the completion of the London 2012 test events where a total of six Paralympic only test events will have taken place.

"It is fantastic to competitive Paralympic sport happening in the Olympic Park," said the London 2012 director of sport Debbie Jevans.

"The events are highly competitive tournament, it is also vital for us to test our operations, technology and field of play.

"They are all fantastic for us in order to test the transition of the venue, replicating the same transition as at Games time."

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