IOC President Thomas Bach will miss the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday -- "the first time" the president of the IOC will "not have attended the event for 32 years," according to Daniel Etchells of INSIDE THE GAMES. Bach is instead due to be attending "the official state mourning ceremony for Walter Scheel, the former West Germany President, who died at the age of 97, in Berlin." South Africa’s Sam Ramsamy was appointed as the official representative of the IOC at the Opening Ceremony. The absence of Bach, who attended the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Winter Paralympic Games in Sochi, "could be interpreted as a sign of tension" between the IOC and Int'l Paralympic Committee over their "conflicting stances regarding Russia’s participation at Rio 2016" (INSIDE THE GAMES, 9/6). The IPC aims to increase its digital presence in Asia, as it announced it entered into a strategic partnership with Sina Sports for the Paralympic Games. Sina Sports is now the online partner of the IPC in China. The Paralympics will take place in Asia in '18 (PyeongChang), '20 (Tokyo) and '22 (Beijing). For this year's Games, Sina Sports has created a special feature page to house expanded coverage. The IPC will provide Sina Sports with videos and articles throughout the Games, and will also publish highlights on Sina Weibo. The IPC will also produce and deliver interviews and content with Chinese athletes to Sina Sports. This year, a total of 308 Chinese athletes will participate in the Paralympics, marking China's largest ever delegation.
BOBSLEIGH GETS GREEN LIGHT: The IPC Governing Board provisionally approved the inclusion of bobsleigh for the Beijing 2022 Paralympics at a meeting on Monday. Bobsleigh will join alpine skiing, biathlon, cross country skiing, ice sledge hockey, snowboard and wheelchair curling. The application for skeleton to be included was not successful (IPC).
