More than 1,250 athletes are expected to compete in 11 sports - three of them being on the Paralympic programme - in Birmingham between August 18 and 27 next year.

The event is the largest elite-level international gathering for athletes who are blind and partially sighted.

"Today [August 18] marks the definitive countdown for the most important sports event under IBSA governance," the IBSA President said.

"Our work towards all the visually impaired athletes reaches its highest peak in our World Games, which in 2023 will have Birmingham as the centre of the planet’s attention.

"The IBSA family will have this one-of-a-kind opportunity to compete together in the same event, ensuring a memorable edition almost a year before the Paralympic Games in Paris in 2024.

"The next year will be challenging for everybody involved in the organisation, but I am certain of its great success.

"Not only from a sporting standpoint, but also from a social, cultural, and psychological one, in a way that only sport can provide for mankind."

Men's and women's Blind Football World Championships are scheduled to be staged as a part of the event.

Paris 2024 qualification places will also be on offer in football, judo and goalball.

The other sports on the programme are archery, chess, cricket, powerlifting, shooting, showdown, tenpin bowling and tennis.

Sallie Barker, the chair of British Blind Sport, added that the organisation and the Organising Committee are "working hard to ensure that the Games leave a lasting legacy".

"With world-class facilities in Birmingham and Wolverhampton, brilliant partners and passionate crowds, we look forward to giving the athletes and spectators a World Games to remember," Barker said.