Over two weeks, World Abilitysport have visited the impressive facilities on offer at the Pajulahti Olympic and Paralympic Training Centre in Finland and at venues across Türkiye in Mersin and Istanbul.

Finland

From 24-25 June 2024, Head of Sport, Harry Cootes and Head of Operations, Elin Luce joined Fabio Rodo, Chairman of Powerchair Hockey to visit the facilities of Pajulahti Olympic and Paralympic Training Centre in Finland.

Over two days, Event Director, Laura Kittelä alongside NPC Finland’s Timo Pelkonen, presented their extensive sport facilities including multiple indoor halls, football pitches, ice rink and beach volley courts, all overlooked by the picturesque shores of Lake Iso-Kukkanen.

The knowledgeable team at the Centre have a wealth of experience in hosting multi-sport events most recently the 2022 European Para Youth Games.

Elin Luce, Head of Operations said, ‘The Pajulahti Olympic and Paralympic Training Centre is an impressive facility managed by an experienced and dedicated team. We are excited to explore the possibilities for the future and thank the Centre and NPC Finland for their warm welcome.’

The visit concluded in the nearby town of Lahti where the team visited the Lahti Sports Centre overlooked by three ski jumps awaiting Finland’s busy winter sports season.

Elin Luce, Head of Operations said, ‘The Pajulahti Olympic and Paralympic Training Centre is an impressive facility managed by an experienced and dedicated team. We are excited to explore the possibilities for the future and thank the Centre and NPC Finland for their warm welcome.’

Türkiye

NPC Türkiye welcomed World Abilitysport CEO, Charmaine Hooper and Head of Operations, Elin Luce for a four day tour around the sport facilities of Mersin and Istanbul.

A comprehensive site visit agenda began in the city of Mersin, a large city and port on the Mediterranean coast of southern Türkiye. The impressive portfolio of high performance facilities included the Nevin Yanıt Athletics Complex, named after European champion hurdler, Nevin Yanıt, who kindly joined the team for their visit. The complex hosted the athletics for the 2013 Mediterranean Games and is proposed as one of the potential venues for future collaborations at a World Abilitysport Games. 

The site visit then arrived in Istanbul and to the Cebeci Sports Complex boasting elite sports facilities for a wide range of sports including basketball, taekwondo, volleyball, swimming, table tennis with on-site physio provision.

Serkan Baltaci of NPC Türkiye said, ‘We at the National Paralympic Committee of Türkiye were pleased to welcome the World Abilitysport representatives. We believe that it will be the start of a long-term collaboration to host many major events in Türkiye. We look forward to showing Türkiye’s potential from east to west and north to south to the Paralympic family all over the world.’

World Abilitysport CEO added, ‘NPC Türkiye have shown a clear passion for providing opportunities for Para athletes and have a truly impressive and vast portfolio of event-ready venues. Their commitment to working with World Abilitysport is something we greatly look forward to exploring for the next four year cycle of our Games. Thank you to all at NPC Türkiye for their enthusiasm and hospitality.’

‘World Abilitysport are committed to establishing an events calendar of four years to allow our members to plan, budget and schedule. Site visits allow venues and hosts to be identified and planning to begin and we thank NPC Türkiye and NPC Finland and Pajulahti Olympic and Paralympic Training Centre for opening such discussions.’ Charmaine Hooper added.

A site visit to Indonesia will also be conducted in the coming weeks as World Abilitysport works to finalise a calendar of events for the upcoming Paralympic cycle.