Today will mark exactly 200 days to go to the Paralympics, when around 4,200 athletes from over 140 countries will compete across 20 sports in what will be the largest Paralympic Games ever.

The 10,500 capacity wheelchair tennis venue at Eton Manor (pictured below), with distinctive blue courts, is the only new facility designed to be used solely for the Paralympic competition.

It will see 112 Paralympic athletes compete for six medals in wheelchair tennis at the Games.

During the Games, the venue will provide temporary aquatic training facilities including three Olympic-size swimming pools, a synchronised swimming pool and a water polo pool.

London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe said he was delighted that the venue was ready with 200 days to go.

"With just 200 days to go to the Opening Ceremony on 29 August, we're in great shape for what should be a spectacular summer of Paralympic sport," said Coe.

"Wheelchair tennis has proved to be one of our most popular tickets and the venue at Eton Manor will be a fantastic setting to showcase some truly world-class athletes."


The new wheelchair tennis facility has been built on the site of an old, disused sports club with strong Olympic ties.

It was the base of the old Eton Manor Sports Club, founded at the beginning of the 20th century, which had Olympians among its former members; including middleweight boxer Harry Mallin, who won Olympic gold medals at both Antwerp in 1920 and in Paris in 1924.

Demolition of the disused sports hall began in December 2006.


It was the first building on the Olympic Park to be knocked down.

Construction began in April 2010, allowing just two years for completion.

After the Games, Eton Manor will be owned, funded and managed by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority.

It will be home to Lee Valley Tennis Centre and Lee Valley Hockey Centre, which will accommodate a variety of groups from beginners to elite athletes with extensive community use, outreach and sports development programmes.

Lee Valley Hockey Centre will offer two competition pitches while Lee Valley Tennis Centre will have four indoor and six outdoor courts, plus provision for five-a-side football pitches.


"Eton Manor is a stylish new sports facility that will be centre stage during the Paralympic Games," said Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) chairman Sir John Armitt.

"It will re-pay every pound of the investment in it by providing training facilities during the Olympics and then, after the Games, becoming an exciting new centre where local people can play sport for decades to come."

"With only 200 days until the start of the Paralympic Games the excitement is now building," added Hugh Robertson, the Minister for Sport and the Olympics and Paralympics.

"It's fantastic that an unprecedented one million Paralympic tickets have already been sold.

"I know our British Paralympians are training hard and looking forward to this once in a lifetime chance of competing at the biggest event in disability sport on home soil.

"I am sure we will put on a Paralympic Games to remember."

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