By Tom Degun in Manchester

May 25 - Organisers of the 2010 BT Paralympic World Cup expressed their delight after a record crowd packed out the Manchester Regional Arena on the first day of competition in order to watch London 2012 hopefuls like Oscar Pistorius and Libby Clegg (pictured) take to the track.



More than 5,500 people filed into the stadium to establish a record for the biggest ever crowd at disability sport event in the UK.

The spectators, who largely consisted of school children, then produced an electric atmosphere which inspired the British athletes as well as South Africa’s Pistorius to some phenomenal performances.

Pistorius claimed two gold medals in the T44 100 and 400 metres while Britain’s Dan Greaves was perhaps the home nations’ standout performer after he won the F44/42 discus event by over 14 metres.

The BT Paralympic World Cup organisers believe that the record crowd highlights the increasing popularity of disability sport in Britain in the build-up to London 2012.

A spokeswoman for the BT Paralympic World Cup organising team told insideworldparasport: "We are delighted that a record crowd has come out to support this fantastic event.

"It is great that we have extremely high profile ambassadors like Oscar turning up to compete here and that really captures the public’s imagination and inspires them to come along and experience Paralympic sport for themselves.

"The crowd here have been phenomenal and we hope that this event has really helped them discover what world class Paralympic sport is all about."

ParalympicsGB chief executive Phil Lane added: "It is really important to have an event like the BT Paralympic World Cup in this country in order for the British public to come out and see the athletes up close to begin to understand their stories and how good they are as competitors."

UK Athletics Paralympic head coach Peter Eriksson agreed with Lane’s sentiments.

He said: "The BT Paralympic World Cup is a great event and it’s particularly nice to see so many school children here.

"This competition will really help them get a better understanding of a high quality Paralympic sports event and help them realise how high the standard of Paralympic sport really is."

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