They will be supported by the Paralympic test events at the Rosa Khutor Alpine Centre, such as the IPCAS Snowboard Cross event taking place today and International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Alpine Skiing World Cup finals, which get underway on Friday (March 8).

Meanwhile, Moscow will host celebrations in Red Square where the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Torch Relay route and official pictograms of the Paralympics will be unveiled by Sochi 2014 President and chief executive Dmitry Chernyshenko.

The Paralympic Games, which are the first ever Winter Paralympics in Russia's history, will attract more than 1,350 athletes and offcials from across 45 countries to the Black Sea resort on March 7-16 next year.

They will compete for 72 sets of medals in the five Paralympic sports of alpine skiing, biathlon, cross country skiing, ice sledge hockey and wheelchair curling.

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