PARALYMPIC AND PARA SPORTS NEWS

Germany’s bronze-medal sitting volleyball match against Russia was a nailbiter, but the team pushed through to win the coveted Paralympic medal they had worked so long and hard for.

Here’s a brief run-down of the top Paralympic sporting events around the world to keep your eyes on in December.

Nominees for November’s Athlete of the Month include: Bibian Mentel, Jiske Griffioen, Norway’s wheelchair curling team, Russia’s ice sledge hockey team and Brazil men’s wheelchair basketball team.

Canada downed Japan, 11-0, and the USA defeated Norway, 3-1, to kick off the World Sledge Hockey Challenge.

The British Paraorchestra has launched 'True Colors', featuring ParalympicsGB athletes & The Kaos Signing Choir for Deaf & Hearing Children, which it hopes will be the Christmas No. 1.

From 2014-2016, the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters will to be the first sporting event to take place in Olympic Park after London 2012 Games.

In addition to winning Paralympic gold, American Jeremy Campbell broke the discus F44 world record four times in 2012, making for the No. 29 moment of the year.

To mark the UN’s International Day for Persons with Disabilities, the Canadian Paralympic Committee has launched a recruitment campaign. “It’s More Than Sport” in which para-athletes reflect on how sport has influenced their lives.

Canada, USA, Norway and Japan will compete at this week’s World Sledge Hockey Challenge in Calgary, Canada.

South Africa’s Natalie du Toit rounded of her swimming career with 13 Paralympic and 12 world championship golds. Her final competitive swim brought in her second Paralympic silver and a huge cheer from the crowds in London’s Aquatics Centre.

Swimmer Matt Cowdrey won eight medals at London 2012 to become Australia’s most-decorated Paralympian of all-time, making his performance the No. 31 moment of the year.

A journal entry from a spectator’s personal experience at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

One athlete’s fight against three Paralympic gold medallists to take the top of the podium at the London Games is Paralympic moment No. 32 of 2012.

Having won the last World Championships and Paralympic Games, American Alexi Salamone is now being heralded as one of the world’s ice sledge hockey greats.

Andre Brasil, Terezinha Guilhermina and Alan Cardoso Fonteles Oliveira will all be competing on the national stage this weekend in Brazil.

Sixty-four athletes from 11 countries will compete in the Wheelchair Fencing World Cup this weekend in Eger, Hungary.

The video, “London 2012 – Best Games Ever” celebrates the contribution that Paralympians at London 2012 made as agents for societal change, and highlights what people with an impairment can achieve, if barriers are removed.

Brazil defeated Argentina for gold at the South American Wheelchair Basketball Championships, though both qualified for the Americas Cup.

The IPC has extended its memorandum of understanding with the Clinical Sport and Exercise Medicine Research Group (CSEMRG) in South Africa.

Nobody expected Korea to make the podium at last year’s Ice Sledge Hockey A Pool World Championships, so their surprise silver is the No. 33 moment of 2012.