Time and money on the mind as Paralympians target Tokyo Games

Irish Paralympic athlete, Greta Streimikyte, pictured following the announcement of Paralympics Ireland’s new fundraising campaign ‘The Next Level’. Ireland’s elite para-athletes are constantly striving to achieve the next level of their sport through dedication, commitment, and perseverance. The new campaign aims to raise vital funds for para-athletes in Ireland and help to support Team Ireland’s journey to Tokyo 2021 and beyond. You can get behind the team now at: https://paralympics.ie/. Picture: Simon Burch

Desperate times and all that. Paralympics Ireland has been a proactive organisation for a long time now but ‘The Next Level’ campaign launched this week is a new departure for the body as it counts the costs of the pandemic and rising competition globally.

The postponement of the Tokyo Games has added an estimated half-a-million euro onto the budget and nations across the world are pumping more and more money into Para sport which has resulted in the movement here to ask the public to dip into its pockets.