Paralympic Games 2016 open in Rio on September 7

© ParalympicsGB

Lee Pearson who will carry the Union Flag.

EQUESTRIAN rider Lee Pearson has been chosen to carry the union flag for Great Britain during the opening ceremony of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games on Wednesday September 7.

He currently holds 10 Paralympic gold medals and needs just two more from this year’s games to overtake Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson as Britain’s most successful Paralympian.

The lead up to these games, unlike 2012, has been fairly chaotic with accusations that they are underfunded and that there is little interest locally so that many of the competitions will take place in front of small, possibly indifferent crowds.

Prince Harry, founder of the Invicta games for disabled ex-servicemen and women is digging into his own pockets to help purchase tickets for local children and it now appears that just over 50 per cent of all tickets have now been sold for the Games which run from September 7 to 18.

A new row has broken out however with certain athletes accusing the British Paralympic Association of manipulating the classification groups in order for those with ‘lesser’ disabilities being put up against those with ‘greater’ disabilities in order to boost the chances of winning medals but this has been categorically denied by CEO Tim Hollingsworth. 

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