The 2012 BT Paralympic World Cup, which will take place at the Manchester Regional Arena from May 22-26, will see athletics, wheelchair basketball and football 7-a-side take place as the three core events but international matches will also take place in the sports of boccia and sitting volleyball.

To celebrate the ticket launch of the 2012 BT Paralympic World Cup, wheelchair basketball player Laurie Williams, football 7-a-side player George Fletcher and T44 sprinter Jonnie Peacock took part in an iconic 'reaching for new heights' photo-shoot in Manchester.

Peacock will be one of the biggest stars at the event having made the final in the T44 100 metre event at the 2011 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) World Championships in Christchurch where he finished in fifth in a world class field.

He is aiming to improve in order to win a medal at London 2012 and admits that competing at the BT Paralympic World Cup, where he will line up against South African star Oscar Pistorius, will be the perfect preparation for the Games.

"I'm really excited for this year's BT Paralympic World Cup; it's going to be one of the main competitions in my plan for this year," Peacock (pictured) told insideworldparasport.


"It's a great opportunity for me to race against people like Oscar and some of the world's best athletes in my class.

"It is a really competitive class with the likes of Oscar and Jerome Singleton but my plan is to be right in amongst them come the Paralympics.

"I already feel in great from and with the world-class line-up at the BT Paralympic World Cup, I have the chance to see where I am at with my preparations ahead of London 2012 because it is an event which sees great results and it brings out some of the best in my competitors there.

"The crowd is always great so it's a great experience overall which is good preparation for London 2012."

BT has been the title sponsor of the BT Paralympic World Cup since 2009 and Suzi Williams, the director of BT group marketing and brand, said that this could be the best edition of the competition to date given that it comes just 100 days before the start of the Paralympics.

"The level of competition at this year's BT Paralympic World Cup is set to be fiercer than ever as the athlete's prepare for London 2012," she said.

"It's a fantastic opportunity to see the world's very best in action."

The team concept, introduced in 2010, is returning for a third year and will see athletes from Great Britain take on teams from the Americas, Europe and the Rest of the World across the sports.

The current BT Paralympic World Cup defending champions are Great Britain.

"I would really encourage the public to buy tickets and come along to the 2012 BT Paralympic World Cup," said British Paralympic Association (BPA) chief executive Tim Hollingsworth.

"It will be a brilliant opportunity to see British athletes and their international competition in action ahead of London 2012 and it will be great for the British competitors to experience the support of a home crowd.

"The BT 2012 Paralympic World Cup is the perfect warm-up event ahead of this year's Paralympic Games."

Channel 4, the London 2012 Paralympic Games host broadcaster, will provide multi-platform coverage of the BT Paralympic World Cup for a second year having won the right to show the competition off the BBC in 2011.

For more information on scheduling and ticketing, click here.

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