DUBAI 17 February 2015 :

A record number of 490 athletes from 48 countries have confirmed their participation in the seventh edition of the Fazza International Athletics Championships which will be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates this month. The 2015 edition will be an IPC Athletics Grand Prix competition with Dubai hosting only the third IPC Athletics Grand Prix after the inaugural edition was also held in the UAE last year. The Fazza International IPC Athletics Grand Prix is organized jointly by the Dubai Club for the Disabled and the Hamdan Bin Mohammed Heritage Center, under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Sports Council.

The Supreme Organising Committee of the Fazza International Athletics IPC Grand Prix held a press conference to announce details of this prestigious event which will be held from 19th to 26th February, 2015 at the Dubai Police Officers Club in Jadaf, Dubai. The Fazza International Athletics IPC Grand Prix will serve as a qualification event for the IPC World Cup which will be held in Doha, Qatar this year and the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016. HE Thani Juma Berregad, Chairman of the Dubai Club for the Disabled and Chairman of the Organizing Committee for the Fazza International Athletics IPC Grand Prix in Dubai, expressed his deep appreciation and gratitude on behalf of the Organizing Committee for His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, for his unstinted support for the development of Paralympic sports in the UAE. He also extended his thanks to the Hamdan Bin Mohammed Heritage Center for its efforts in organizing the Fazza International Athletics IPC Grand Prix and the Dubai Sports Council for their support. "The Fazza International Athletics meeting is one of the most popular competitions all over the world because of the high level of organization and high performance of athletes," said HE Thani Juma Berregad, Head of organizing committee. "It is a recognition of the excellent organization that IPC Athletics has chosen the United Arab Emirates as a venue for the third edition of the IPC Athletics Grand Prix competition after the 2014 event," added HE Thani Juma Berregad. Following four days of classification, athletes will participate in four days of top class track and field from 22nd to 25th February. The official opening ceremony will be held on Saturday February 21st while the competition proper begins on Sunday February 22nd. Athletes will compete in distances from 100m, 200m, 400, 800m, 1500m and 5,000m on the track, and field events of shot put, discus, javelin, club throw and long jump.

The track and field events will be held in accordance with the rules and regulations of IPC Athletics. The event has taken place every year since 2009, and since its initiation has seen an increase in number of participants and the level of competition at the event each year. "Since 2009 there has been a remarkable increase in the number of participants and the standard of competition due to the fact that the best athletes in the world take part in this event," said HE Thani Juma Berregad. Majid Abdullah Al Usaimi, Director of the tournament, said: “We are leaving no stone unturned to make the Fazza International Athletics IPC Grand Prix a success. It is today recognized as a world class Championship thanks to the support of the government and the consistently superior level of organization.” The previous edition of the competition, the first event of the IPC Athletics Grand Prix 2014, was held at the Sharjah Club. Over four days of competition, nearly 500 athletes from 39 countries took part in 86 different events, breaking seven world and 22 regional records. As part of IPC Athletics' strategy to provide more high level competition opportunities for para-athletes around the world, Dubai will host the first ever IPC Athletics Asia-Oceania Championships in March 2016. It is expected to attract around 600 athletes from 45 countries.