Australia’s Paralympics squad still confident of top five finish on medal table in Rio

AUSTRALIA’S Paralympics team is refusing be daunted by the nation’s Olympic Games shortfall in Rio, insisting its own top-five tilt remains on target.

Australia will take its largest ever Paralympics squad to an overseas Games when all members land in Rio.

AUSTRALIA’S Paralympics team is refusing be daunted by the nation’s Olympic Games shortfall in Rio, insisting its own dream of a top-five medal result remains on target.

And the Aussies are hoping their position will only strengthen when nine more athletes are added to the team on Friday following the confirmed expulsion of Russia from the Games, starting on September 2.

Russia has lost its appeal to the Court of Arbitration of Sport to overturn a decision by the International Paralympic Committee this month to ban the nation’s entire 267-strong team from the Games following revelations of systemic doping.

The verdict paves the way for Australia’s six-person women’s goalball team as well as opening two more spots for athletics competitors and a wheelchair tennis player.

The Australian Paralympic Committee expects to finalise athletes called into the squad today.

The last-minute influx will take Australia’s Paralympics team to 179 competitors, easily the biggest assembled for an overseas Games.

Australia’s Olympics objectives went up in smoke with a haul of eight gold medals that left it 10th on the leaderboard — well below the 16 golds and top-five result predicted by the Australian Olympic Committee and outspoken chef de mission Kitty Chiller.

But Australia’s Paralympics chef de mission Kate McLoughlin said even without the extra athletes to win call-ups, the APC held no fear standing by its long-term expectation of maintaining a top-five medal ranking.

Chef de Mission Kate McLoughlin believes a top-five finish is achievable.

“We’re two very different teams, so it would be unfair to draw comparisons because there are so many different parts to each team,” said McLoughlin, who flies out to Rio on Friday.

“We are still aiming for that top-five, which is definitely possible. There’s no doubt it’s going to be tough because all those other countries are gunning for those same top positions as well.

“We’re really confident the team we’ve got will do an amazing job and rise to the occasion.”

The lead-in to the 2016 Paralympic Games enjoyed a spike this week after grave fears that poor ticket sales might threaten the event.

A week ago, barely 10 per cent of the 2.5 million available tickets across the 12 days of competition had been sold.

Proceeds from ticket sales has been budgeted to help fund the campaign for some countries, and the dire cash reserve was believed to mean some nations could not afford the trip to South America.

Figures released this week showed as many as 600,000 tickets have now been sold — 20 per cent of capacity — following an all-time Paralympics record of 133,000 sales on Tuesday.

Australia’s athletes begin arriving in Rio from August 31.

“Our athletes are in good shape,” she said. We’ve got a mixture of athletes in Australia, and in staging camps in Europe and the US.

“I’m in regular touch with team leaders and coaches and they’re all feeling really comfortable with how the athletes are preparing and performing.”

The 2016 Paralympics, from September 7-18, will be broadcast on the Seven network.

Originally published as Australia’s Paralympics squad still confident of top five finish on medal table in Rio