The proposal was passed by the International Rowing Federation (FISA) at its Extraordinary Congress in Copenhagen. 

Adaptive events were added to the World Rowing Championships in 2002 and made their Paralympic debut at Beijing in 2008.

There were four events at London 2012, where crews from three countries shared the gold medals, including the mixed coxed four which was won by the British squad.

The most successful country were China, who won two gold medals, including in the men's single sculls where Cheng Huang caused one of the biggest shocks of London 2012, winning an event where Britain's defending champion Tom Aggar suffered his first-ever defeat having gone unbeaten for five years.


But another proosal at the FISA Extraordinary Congress, to standardise the Paralympic rowing distance to 2,000 metres, from its current 1,000m, was narrowly rejected. 

The vote was 85 in favour and 44 against which meant that 66 per cent of the votes cast supported the proposal but it did not achieve the required 67 per cent.

If the proposal had been approved it would have fully integrated Para-rowing with able-bodied rowing, ending the requirement for additional costly infrastructure and gaps in the racing programme.

Those speaking against the proposal claimed they feared that this distance would discourage athletes from entering the sport, particularly in the single sculls for those with the more substantial disabilities.

But the Congress did approve a proposal to add a new boat, the Legs, Trunk and Arms Mixed Double Scull (LTAMix2x), to the World Championship programme.

This would allow member federations another boat for the category with the largest talent pool, it was claimed.