Drogheda man Jimmy Gradwell has been appointed as new president of the Paralympic Council of Ireland, it was announced today.

The Irish team for the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing was officially announced by Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism Martin Cullen in Dublin today.

Irish paralympic sprinter Jason Smyth, from Eglinton in Derry, broke his own 100m (T13 category* for visually impaired athletes) world record in his first competitive start of the season yesterday recording a time of 10.85 seconds.

EAMON Coughlan and Keith Wood are amongst the high profile board members of the new Irish Institute of Sport under the executive chairmanship of Sean Kelly.

WHILE delighted with the exposure given to paralympic sport (‘Irish paralympic cycling cash crisis’, Irish Examiners, January 24), the Paralympic Council of Ireland (PCI) would like to clarify a number of inaccuracies relating to funding granted to paralympic cycling in 2007.

THE Irish team for next month’s IPC Open European Athletics Championships in Espoo, Finland, has been announced by the Paralympic Council of Ireland.

HOPES of the Irish team’s success in the Paralympic Games are high as the games begin in Athens today with more than 4,000 athletes competing from 153 countries in the second largest sporting event the world.