Mencap warn British ID athletes could fail at London 2012 unless funded
The International Paralympic Committee(IPC) voted yesterday to lift a ban on ID athletes imposed after the 200 Sydney Games when the Spanish basketball team was revealed to have cheated.Mencap called on the British Government to ensure funding was available immediately so athletes were ready to compete.Mark Goldring, Mencap’s chief executive, said: "Everyone at Mencap is delighted that after years of campaigning, athletes with a learning disability will no longer be excluded from the Paralympic Games.
However, without immediate funding, British athletes will remain excluded from London 2012 despite the ban being lifted.This would be a national embarrassment.Before the ban, ID athletes qualified for lottery funding which is available to all world-class elite athletes, but that was cut after the IPC imposed its ban.Tim Reddish, the President of ParalympicsGB, predicted that the decision will lead to a rise in standards among ID athletes.He said: "We have lobbied hard for the re-inclusion of athletes with a learning disability, subject to a robust classification system and are delighted that IPC and INAS-FID have got us to that point.
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