Paralympics: Sailability Hong Kong’s Kay Rawbone joins global campaign to reinstate sailing in Para Games
- More than 40 countries now have disabled sailing programmes after the sport was removed from the roster because of a lack of entries
- Rawbone, British sailor Hannah Stodel and Singapore’s Jovin Tan discuss ways to strengthen disabled sailing’s case for the Games
Sailing’s attempts to return to the Paralympics fold is on track but sailors need to show more consistency taking part in international events, said Great Britain’s four-time Para Games athlete Hannah Stodel.
Sailing was struck off the Paralympics roster after the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games – low participation rate being among the reasons – but the international sailing community, including Hong Kong Sailability co-founder Kay Rawbone, is on a campaign to reinstate the sport.
“We didn’t have enough countries taking part,” said Stodel, who along with Rawbone, Singapore Paralympian Jovin Tan and moderator William MacLachlan, of HFW Events, took part in a webinar on Thursday titled “Why sailing must be reinstated in the Paralympics”.
“The target number is 32 and we are much past that now and sitting on around 42. At the time, our numbers were a little on the low side.
“But it’s not only about the numbers. It’s also about consistent participation. While sending one country to one event is good for numbers, it’s not good for constant participation.