The International Canoe Federation successfully delivered its first-ever Arabic-speaking seminar in Paracanoe with the support of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
Cairo, Egypt, hosted the IPC-funded project that combined classification and coaching with a focus on Arabic-speaking countries over five days.
Algeria, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Sudan, and Tunisia were represented at the seminar as participants got the chance to qualify as Lavel 3 national classifiers.
There was also participation from Palestine and Somalia, with the Presidents of both National Federations attending the last day of the course.
The seminar featured a mix of classification and coaching development tools, with the aim to encourage NFs to develop the Paracanoe activity locally and ultimately bring athletes to international competition.
The Level 3 classification course was held over three days, resulting in successful candidates being able to classify athletes at a national level.
A one-day coaching course also took place to assist with recruitment techniques and adaptive equipment guides as well as offer advice on specific impairment, long-term development, and high-performance.
The seminar, which ran from December 11 to 15, was fully funded from the IPC’s Sport Technical Training and Training Camp Grant.
ICF Paracanoe Committee Chair John Edwards led the seminar, with assistance from ICF Co-Head of Classification Fatima Fernandes, ICF Paracanoe Level 5 Classifier and development expert Jean-Christophe Gonneaud and ICF Africa and Europe Continental Manager Ali Hassan.
Mr Edwards said: “This seminar in Egypt was a landmark moment for Paracanoe.
“For the first time in our short history, a classification course was staged for Arabic-speaking nations and in Africa.
“This was all thanks to the financial support of the International Paracanoe Committee and a desire to build on the momentum from Brahim Guendouz’s gold medal in men’s KL3 at Paris 2024.
“We must also thank the Egyptian Kayak and Canoe Federation for hosting this successful seminar which featured 15 new national classifiers from Algeria, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Sudan, and Tunisia.
“It was also great to see the National Federations of Palestine and Somalia join us on the last day of the workshop. The enthusiasm and interest of the participants was notable.”
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