Final Paralympians decided -22 countries will fly to Beijing
next September for first Paralympic rowing events
The Final Qualification Regatta for the rowing events at
the 2008 Paralympic Games finished this morning and 12 crews
qualified for the Games. Eight crews qualified by finishing
in first or second positions in this morning's finals. In
addition, FISA and the International Paralympic Committee
(IPC) allocated the four remaining spots, through the bipartite
process, to the South African four, the Spanish men's single
sculler, the Hong Kong female single sculler and the Japanese
double sculls.
The bipartite allocation is based on IPC criteria of gender
equality and disability equality. As Adaptive Rowing is gender
equal and allows for all disabilities, in agreement with the
IPC, FISA has added universality and a maximum spread of participation
as criteria and made its decision based on this morning's
race results. In total, 22 countries will participate in the
first-ever Paralympic Rowing Regatta in September with a breakdown
of participating nations: 4 Asian, 1 African, 3 from the Americas,
13 European and 1 Oceania.
These newly qualified athletes join the 64 rowers already
qualified after the 2007 World Rowing Championships on this
same course in Munich.
Following the morning qualifications, a FISA press conference
was held to explain the Paralympic qualification system.
In addition, Matt Smith, FISA Executive Director gave a short
update on the current status of Olympic qualification. Already
98 nations have participated in the Olympic qualification
process. This includes Munich last year and the continental
qualification events in Latin America, Asia and Asia. FISA's
goal for this Olympic quadrennial period was to reach 100
member federations, and, according to Smith, this goal will
be achieved in Poznan, Poland, as at least two additional
nations shall attempt qualification through the final qualification
regatta from 15 to 18 June 2008.
Olympic tripartite allocation has already been decided, and
places have been given to the Men's single scull from Monaco
and Honduras and Iraq for the final two places in the lightweight
men's double scull or the open men's double scull - still
to be determined.
Among other issues discussed were a new official sponsorship
deal between FISA and Siemens. Siemens is already a partner
of British rowing, and have joined FISA to support this year's
Rowing World Cup series.
Siemens is a leading global engineering company, providing
innovative solutions to help tackle the world's major challenges,
across the key industrial sectors of energy, industry and
healthcare. It is also a key provider of IT services and solutions
and financial services.
The first stage of Rowing World Cup on the Olympic Regatta
Course in Munich, Germany will finish tomorrow, Sunday. The
series continues in Lucerne, Switzerland from 30 May to 1
June and the final in Poznan, Poland from 20 to 22 June.
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