By Tom Degun

ipcOctober 30 - The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is inviting cities from across Europe to bid for three of their major sporting events which are due to take place in 2013.


The first event is the IPC Shooting European Championships, the second is the IPC Powerlifting European Championships and the third is the IPC Wheelchair Dance Sport European Championships.

The shooting European Championships are set to attract nearly 300 athletes and officials from a number of different countries and will be one of the largest international IPC shooting events following the conclusion of the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

The sport, which made its Paralympic Games debut in 1976 in Toronto, has enjoyed rapid growth in recent years and in 2010 saw the number of licensed participants increase by 21 per cent.

Suhl in Germany staged the last European Championships in 2007 while Zagreb in Croatia hosted the IPC Shooting World Championships last year which saw 250 athletes from 43 countries compete.

The powerlifting European Championships are expected to involve a total of 275 athletes and officials.

Kavala in Greece hosted the last European Championships in 2007 while last year Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia staged the World Championships with 292 athletes from 49 countries involved.

The wheelchair dance Sport European Championships are expected to involve around 225 athletes and officials.

Although not part of the Paralympic Games sport programme, wheelchair dance sport has benefitted significantly from the growth in popular television dance shows and regularly attracts sell-out crowds.

Both days of competition at last year's World Championships in Hannover in Germany were sold-out six months in advance of the event taking place.

The sport is now practiced in 22 countries around the world but Europe is a hot bed of talent for the sport with athletes from the continent winning all 12 medals available in Hannover in 2010.

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