Para Sport Festival 2023 at Swansea

Designed to inspire and encourage people of all ages and abilities to participate in and spectate disability and para sport, last year’s inaugural Disability Sport Wales-organised and Welsh Government funded Para Sport Festival was a huge success, with organisations such as Wales Golf, Tennis Wales, the WRU, Welsh Gymnastics and the Welsh Wheelchair Basketball Association all reporting a big increase in enquiries immediately after the event.

Building on that success, the 2023 Para Sport Festival will be even bigger and better, with more national status tournaments and more opportunities to get involved – as a participant, volunteer or spectator.

The new-look 2023 Para Sport Festival will commence on Monday 10 July with the Welsh Para Golf Open, to be played at the wonderfully picturesque Langland Bay Golf Club.

One of the biggest participant days will be on Tuesday 11 July, when an insport Series event will take place at the Indoor Athletics Track at Swansea University (Singleton Park Campus). Last year over 200 people, many of whom had never tried sport before, took advantage of this free event to come and participate in over 20 different sports – each of which was delivered by local insport Clubs and National Governing Bodies, who also brought along qualified coaches.

The Indoor Athletics Track will once again be packed with different sporting activities to try, including indoor rowing, wheelchair rugby, gymnastics, table tennis and target shooting – with each participant receiving a fabulous goodie bag. The event is open to all ages and all abilities, and the venue is fully accessible. Registration beforehand is a must and can be done at: parasportfestival.co.uk.

* Wednesday (12 July) and Thursday (13 July) hosts the Boccia UK Team Championships. This is a significant new tournament for Swansea, as local hero David Smith OBE – the triple Gold medal-winning Paralympian and world number one in Boccia – lives in Swansea Bay, a soft leather ball’s throw away from Singleton Park.

* Friday (14 July) sees the British Para Fencing Championships and Welsh Para Open Target Shooting competitions get underway, as well as the Deaf Football International match between Wales and Scotland.

* The Wheelchair Rugby Welsh Open takes place on Saturday (15 July), while the Para Fencing and Target Shooting competitions conclude on Sunday (16 July).

Saturday also sees the World Triathlon Para Series Swansea take place, with IRONMAN 70.3 Swansea concluding the week-long festival of sport on the Sunday.

Athletes attending the 2023 Para Sport Festival launch included Harrison Walsh (2022 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist), Kyron Bishop (Osprey Wheelchair Rugby player), Michael Jenkins (teenage para-athlete and rising star), James Ledger (visually impaired sprinter), and Beth Munro, who won a silver medal in taekwondo at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo, just two years after taking up the sport.