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London 2012
organisers have signed up supermarket Sainsbury's as the first
Paralympics-only sponsor.
London 2012 organisers say the undisclosed sum is the largest ever
sponsorship of a Paralympic Games.
And International Paralympic Committee (IPC) president Sir Philip
Craven described the deal as "historic".
The top-tier sponsorship deal means Sainsbury's will be one of two
sponsors to take advantage of the limited branding allowed during
the games.
'Importance'
Sir Philip said: "I think what we have got here is a highly
competitive and enthusiastic organising committee [London 2012]
which has taken the product we have discussed with them and got
interest.
"They [Sainsbury's] will go out to the whole of the UK through its
850 stores and its colleagues and get out to Britain the importance
of the Paralympic Games in 2012."
Sainsbury's will sell merchandise for the Paralympic Games and for
the British Paralympic team across its UK stores.
It will also feature on space on athletes' bibs, on swimming blocks
and and in other key spots during the Paralympics.
"We felt that would be unique and different and much better suited
to what Sainsbury's could add to the equation," said Sainsbury's
chief executive Justin King.
"I am pleased that the Paralympic movement felt the same as well."
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Dame
Tanni Grey-Thompson nominated as 'people's peer'
Paralympic gold medallist Tanni Grey-Thompson
is set to become a "people's peer" after a recommendation from the
House of Lords Appointments Commission.
 Dame
Tanni is Britain's most successful Paralympian, with 11 Olympic
golds for wheelchair racing, as well as seven golds in World
Championships.
The Cardiff-born wheelchair racer has set 30
world records in her career.
She will be one of four new
non-party-political peers recommended to the Prime Minister by the
commission.
The others are Design Council chair, executive
director of the Institute for Government and former Whitehall
mandarin Sir Michael Bichard, Royal Opera House chief executive and
former BBC journalist Tony Hall, and eminent surgeon Professor Ajay
Kakkar.
Grey-Thompson was appointed a Dame of
Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005. She was
appointed an MBE in 1993 and an OBE in 1999.
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 Playing
Cricket With a Disability
Memories of England’s triumphant retention of the Ashes last summer
have been made all the more distant by the severe chill of the
winter months. However, the first optimistic rays of
sunshine are breaking through the clouds. Once you hear the
distant buzz of the lawnmower, you know that the cricket
season is once again upon us.
This year promises another exciting season, not least with the
visits to Britain of the national sides of Australia, Pakistan and
Bangladesh. That same excitement can be found among those
speculating upon how the domestic campaign will unfold, too.
Satellite television contracts have made superstars of today’s
generation of international stars, who have inspired young and old
to both play and spectate. Cricket lovers with a disability
are no different in terms of their passion for the game, and
never has there been more opportunities for them to become involved,
either as player, official or support personnel such as
ground staff or scorer.
Grassroots of the GameInitiatives to increase participation include
professional clubs such as Surrey and Lancashire. Surrey, for
example, compete at schools, club and county level. In
the north-west, Lancashire are keen to ensure that from the
grassroots of the game up to and including the elite level,
players with a disability have every chance to fulfil their
potential. And elite means just that, with both England blind
and deaf squads, for example, competing at international
level.
Players with a disability follow many of the regulations enshrined
in the Laws of Cricket laid out by the guardian of the
world game, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). However,
due to the restrictions placed on them by their individual
disabilities in terms of game play, modifications have had to
be made.
So, for example, blind players are categorised depending upon how
severe their impairment is – from little or no sight, up to an
acuity of 6-60 (they are able to see at six metres what a fully
sighted person can see at 60m) with teams required to
field a requisite number of players from each of the three
designated categories.
International LevelSimilarly, deaf players must have a loss of
hearing of 55 decibels or less in their better ear in order to
be eligible to play, while those with a learning
disability must be judged to have an IQ of 75 or less.
As yet, there is no code that would allow players competing in
physical disability cricket to play at international level.
UK-based players compete using the profiling system for
athletes with physical
impairments as laid down by Disability Sports Events, a division of
the umbrella body of disability sport in England.
In terms of specialised equipment, blind
players use high visibility stumps, and a plastic ball
filled with ball bearings that must be delivered under-arm by
the bowler.
Deaf cricketers, on the other hand, must
remove what many of them would categorise as their most prized
piece of specialised equipment – their hearing aid – in order
to ensure a level playing field whatever the degree of
individual disability.
At all levels of the game this coming season, there are some very
tasty duels awaiting both players and spectators of disability
cricket. There may not be the intense spotlight of satellite
television following every move out there in the middle, but that
will not lessen the excitement and
cheers that will accompany what will, hopefully, be a glorious
summer that will live long in the memory.
Safe Sport
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