By Tom Degun

February 18 - Britain can make a real impact at the Winter Paralympics in Vancouver next month, the chairman of Paralympics GB Tim Reddish (pictured) has predicted.



Despite not being widely renowned as a winter sport team, ParalympicsGB are taking a strong squad to Vancouver with them.

The curling team - which will be led by Glasgow’s Michael McCreadie in Vancouver - claimed a silver medal at the Turin 2006 Games four years ago while Cambridgeshire's alpine skier Sean Rose is currently in blistering form after recently claiming gold at the 2010 World Cup in Sestriere, the performance ever by a Briton.

Reddish believes that all the hard work that has been put in by the athletes in the run-up to the Games could finally pay off out in Vancouver.

He said: "In Turin, we proudly bought home a silver medal in curling and our skiers and sledge hockey players put in impressive performances.

"This time around, we are expecting the competition to be as fierce as ever but we are confident we have selected the best athletes in the country to represent us and know our athletes have worked tirelessly to ensure they have done everything they can to deliver exceptional performances over the nine days of competition."

With the London 2012 Paralympic Games now less than 1,000 days away, a large amount of the media attention in Britain has been focused on the Summer Games in London but Reddish claimed that the Winter Paralympics in Vancouver are currently the primary concern of ParalympicsGB.

He said: "Following an outstanding performance by the British team in Beijing, there has been much focus on the return of the Summer Paralympic Games to London in two year’s time.

"But at ParalympicsGB, our focus has been on Vancouver 2010 and we have worked hard to ensure our winter athletes and support staff has the best possible support in Vancouver and Whistler.

"It is undoubtedly the pinnacle of an athlete’s career to represent their country at the Paralympic Games and I would like to congratulate all our athletes on their selection to ParalympicsGB for this year’s Winter Games.

"The tenth Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver will undoubtedly be the biggest Winter Games yet."

The Games, which are due to take place from March 12-21, will feature 600 athletes from 43 different countries competing in five sports of.

They are alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, ice sledge hockey and wheelchair curling.

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