London 2012 Open Weekend is an annual UK-wide celebration counting down to the Olympic and Paralympic Games and Optua’s Showcase Day has been included on the official list of Open Weekend events.

The Showcase Day, which will be held on July 24 at Northgate Sports Centre in Ipswich, will provide an exciting chance to take part in activities with a huge range of disabled sports to try.

The sports on offer include cycling, football, athletics, boccia, sailing, archery, darts, judo, powerlifting and fishing.

There will also be other arts and cultural activities such as dance and theatre workshops.

Optua launched the Suffolk Disability Sport Academy project five years ago and has since organised seven disability sport showcase days across Suffolk, introduced hundreds of people to disability sport and helped to set up several new sports clubs.

The project even helped support Zoe Newson take up powerlifting and the young Suffolk girl now ranked number one in the world in her class in the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) world rankings.

Newson, a member of the Suffolk Spartans Powerlifting club which Optua helped to set up and continues to support, competed at the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation World Games in India last year where she came second in her class.

She also holds the British Junior and Senior Records in the under 40kg class as well as the European junior record in the under 40kg class and Optua will be hoping to uncover another potential London 2012 Paralympian at the event this year.

David Finn, Optua’s leisure manager, said: "This event will be a perfect way to celebrate the Olympic and Paralympic Games coming to London.

"A lot has been said about the great opportunities the Olympic and Paralympic Games coming to London presents to other parts of the country.

"We’re a great example of this as we’ve used it to encourage more disabled people to try new sports and in many cases start competing on a regular basis.

"We’ve even helped some who might just be taking part in 2012.

"But it gives us as much satisfaction to see people enjoying themselves, getting active and making friends

"Our event in July should be another really enjoyable and successful day and it’s free.

"We want as many people as possible to come along and enjoy themselves so get in touch and sign up soon".

To register for the event call 01473 836770, email [email protected] or click here to download a registration form.

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