ISLAMABAD - London 2012 will be the biggest Paralympics in history, with 19 more nations taking part than four years ago, organisers said Monday as they began counting down the last 100 days until the Games. Some 4,200 competitors will take part — up from 3,951 in Beijing in 2008 — and 16 nations will be making their Paralympic debut including isolated North Korea and conflict-torn Democratic Republic of Congo. Athletes from 23 nations held the first Paralympics in Rome 12 years after the Stoke Mandeville event in Britain, which involved veterans who had been injured during World War II. “I offer my best wishes to all the Pakistani Paralympians currently training and working hard in preparations of the 2012 London Games and had the privilege of meeting many of the Pakistani Paralympians at events held at the British High Commission, I was impressed with their professionalism and competitive instinct, the people in Pakistan would, I’m sure, be rightly proud of them when they represent their country in London this summer” she said on Monday.
He said: “We’re also using the Games to encourage more disabled people into sport at the grassroots level to help find the next generation of Paralympians but also to demonstrate how sport can enrich the lives of disabled people,” Alison Blake concluded
Meanwhile, speaking at the occasion President of National Paralympics Committee Pakistan, Tariq Mustafa said: “Paralympic Games returned to the location where it all started at Stoke Mandeville near London.