PARALYMPIC AND PARA SPORTS NEWS

Paralympic Sport A-Z: Sitting volleyball

The pool stages in the men’s and women’s competitions will see repeat fixtures from the London 2012 gold medal matches.

Finland's Petri Posio and Erkki Miinala block the ball during their gold-medal match at the London 2012 Paralympic Games. After winning Paralympic gold, the Finnish squad will now host the 2014 World Championships.

Reigning men’s Paralympic champions Finland will face European title winner Turkey, women’s champions Japan drawn with world gold medallists USA.

Alex Zanardi

The first leg of the 2016 Road World Cup season will take place in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, from 6-8 May.

Sergey Malyshev of Russia, wearing glasses, a visor and ear protection shoots his Mixed P3-25m Pistol at an indoor range at The Royal Artillery Barracks

Ukraine’s Kovalchuk claimed victory in the R5, while Russia’s Malyshev took home gold in the P5.

Goalball China X Iran - London 2012

The sport was introduced at Toronto 1976 with a men’s event, whilst women made their debut at New York 1984.

Goalball women's gold medal game between USA and Brazil at the Toronto 2015 Parapan American Games.

The 17th edition of the Malmo Ladies Intercup will be held from 6-8 May

A swimmer's head rising out of the water

Portugal’s David Grachat also placed himself in pole position to claim the hosts’ first medal in Funchal.

A group of para swimmers

Paralympic gold medallists highlight the squad, including Sophie Pascoe and Mary Fisher.

Close up of man with swim cap

A new world record for Ukraine's Dubrov and European marks for Russia's Zhdanov and Spain's Gascon also highlightened the competition in Funchal, Portugal.

Swimmers doing backstroke

On Thursday (5 May) the men’s S2 will feature a face-off between a defending champion and swimmer set to make his Paralympic debut in 2016.