Fennell, president of the Commonwealth Games Federation and Hooper, chief executive, agreed that the 15 events for disability athletes in Delhi - six in swimming, six in athletics, two in powerlifting and one in table tennis - should be kept under review.

Hooper told insideworldparasport: "Obviously the Parasport events are a very important part of the Commonwealth Games and we continue to review the programme to see whether we can add some more or whether we need to change some events to make it more relevant as time goes by.

"It is unrealistic to talk about a Paralympic Commonwealth event separate from the Commonwealth Games at this stage because obviously a lot of that comes down to finances and things like that and we also feel it is important we have a fully integrated event.

"There are a lot of logistical complexities involved in changing the Paralympic programme and updating it over time but we are determined to do that to keep it all relevant.

"On a personal level, I would love to see wheelchair rugby at the Commonwealth Games as I think it is an absolutely fantastic sport, but we have to take our time with these things and carefully review the situation after each Commonwealth event."



Five-time Paralympic champion Matthew Cowdrey (pictured) of Australia - who yesterday broke the world record to clinch Commonwealth Games gold in the men’s S9 50 metres freestyle - had said he "would like to see a few more events included" for disability athletes.

India’s Prasanta Karmakar, who took bronze behind Cowdrey to win nation’s first ever swimming medal, added that the Paralympic events are sometimes overlooked at the Games as there are so few of them.

Fennell added: "Let us not forget that we became the first fully-integrated multi-sport competition in the world [at the Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002] so we are really leading the way with regard to this.

"We continue to work closely with the International Paralympic Committee and we continue to review the Parasport programme and update it.

"This doesn’t necessarily mean that we add more events to the Parasport programme at each Games, but it means we actively look at the programme and decide on where we can make changes, because we are very committed to ensuring that the Commonwealth Games remains a fully-integrated event."

Contact the writer of this story [email protected]


Related stories
October 2010: Australian Paralympic champion calls for more events at Commonwealth Games