Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association (CPISRA) president Peter Drysdale met with Asian Paralympic Committee (APC) President Majid Rashed at the APC headquarters in Dubai and sought APC’s co-operation to promote CP sports in the region.
Drysdale is on a two-day visit to the UAE and was accompanied by APC vice-president and CPSAI India head Rajesh Tomar at the meeting which was also attended by APC CEO Tarek Souei.
The visit was aimed at learning about awareness and development of CP sports in Asia, and how APC can support CPISRA promote the athletes and CP sport in the region. Impressed with the growth of APC under the presidency of Mr. Rashed, Drysdale also wanted the Asian body to help open pathways for holding major events together in future.
APC president Rashed assured full co-operation and assistance to CPISRA and their plans in Asia and said the Asian organisation has a good history with CPISRA in the past. “We are happy to extend our support to CPISRA, with whom APC had a very good relation in the past. APC is happy to create an environment for the development of CP sport in Asia, assist CPISRA to open pathways in Asia and increase the participation in the region,” said Mr. Rashed.
Both the bodies also discussed about the challenges they face regarding classification during events, communication and lack of awareness of NPCs about the issues, and how this could be resolved.
“In Europe, CP sport is growing. We are also holding the World Games this August. This is a great moment for athletes with CP and the sport. We are now keen to expand our horizon to Asia and create opportunities for people with CP in the region. We will be preparing an MoU to agree with the APC within which we will have major competitions and other initiatives like workshops, development camps and educational programmes etc.,” said Drysdale adding that CPISRA is looking forward to working closely with APC and its member countries with targeted programmes for various cultures in Asia.
