Last November, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) announced at the IPC General Assembly in Kuala Lumpur that athletes with an intellectual impairment would be readmitted into the Paralympics at 2012, for the first time since the Sydney 2000 Games, subject to International Federations producing sport-specific classification systems.

The IPC had initially suspended the intellectually disabled categories at the Games back at the Sydney Paralympics after a number of members of Spain’s gold medal winning basketball team in Australia were discovered not to be suffering from an intellectual disability.

Rowing, which was among the sports scheduled to be included, declined the opportuity because they did not believe they would be ready in time.

However, since the IPC announced the reinstatement of the category at the end of last year, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) in conjunction with the International Sports Federation for Persons with an Intellectual Disability (INAS-FID) and researchers from the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium have worked intensively on producing a new sport-specific classification system.

Following receipt of progress reports and a successful pilot of the new system on eight athletes in France last month, the ITTF Executive Committee has approved the inclusion of table tennis for players with an intellectual impairment at London 2012 under Class 11.

The announcement means that table tennis is the first sport for ID athletes to be confirmed on the programme for the London 2012 Paralympics.

IPC President Sir Philip Craven said: "On behalf of the IPC, I would like to congratulate the ITTF Executive Committee on this project which has culminated in the inclusion of athletes with an Intellectual impairment in the London 2012 Paralympics.

"A lot of hard work has gone into delivering this project by individuals and groups and it is proof of a successful partnership between the IPC members and external parties."

ITTF’s President Adham Sharara added: "The ITTF is delighted that we can maintain our approach of 'One Sport, One Family' as we are the first International Federation to welcome Table Tennis players with an Intellectual impairment to our Family for 2012.

"The ITTF made a commitment to make this happen by the end of September 2010 and we have kept that commitment."

Bob Price, INAS-FID’s President, hailed  the ITTF and the Leuven University research team.

He said: "This is another step forward in the process of re-inclusion and demonstrates the significant progress that has been made since the (IPC) General Assembly agreement last November."

Details of the athlete eligibility system and 2010-2011 competitions will be available from the ITTF and INAS-FID in the near future.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
July 2010: IPC and ParalympicsGB respect rowing decision over ID athletes
June 2010: Rowing turns down opportunity to have ID athletes at London 2012
January 2010: ID athletes still face plenty of challenges before London 2012 admits President
December 2009: Loughborough University researchers working on system to classify ID athletes
December 2009: ID athletes must wait until next year to find out funding level