Sports federations to take-over Special athletes, as IPC set to stop acting for 10 sports
Nigeria Special Sports Federation will have to hands off as International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is also set to stop acting as the International Federation for 10 sports following proposals made by its Governance Review Working Group.
According to the news from the international body, underground plans put forward by the panel, chaired by vice-president Duane Kale, the IPC will relinquish control of the sports it governs such as – Alpine skiing, athletics, biathlon, cross-country skiing, dance sport, ice hockey, powerlifting, shooting, snowboarding and swimming.
It could see the likes of the International Association of Athletics Federations, the International Swimming Federation and the International Ski Federation integrate the sports into their respective organisations.
The group has suggested the 10 sports either join an able-bodied International Federations, establish its own standalone governing body – similar to those for wheelchair basketball and rugby – or become part of another organisation, such as a multi-sport entity.
A World Para Sports Unit will be established to manage the exit process for the 10 sports.
The panel revealed the WPSU would have the responsibility for “the sport’s leaving plan, including strategy, operational plans, budgets, competition calendar and qualification”.
Nigeria, one of the major forces in the global sports will have to prepare themselves on how to key into the new arrangement from the international body.
The IPC has forecasted the five summer sports will leave by 2028 and the winter disciplines by 2030, although the body has stressed this is not a strict target or deadline.
In the governance review document presented to the General Assembly in Bonn, the working group outlined its concerns with the IPC acting as the governing body for the sports.
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It claimed the IPC governing the 10 sports “has created perceptions of conflict of interest, disparity in the application of resources, a sense of unfairness between the IPC sports and those which are not and confusion about the IPC’s role”.