World Sailing funds aimed at Para sailing

World Sailing is set to allocate a “significant” portion of its next quadrennial budget towards the development of Para sailing as it looks to gain readmission for the Los Angeles 2028 Paralympic Games.

The worldwide governing body has made no secret of its financial issues in recent years, which have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

David Graham, chief executive of World Sailing, admitted earlier this year that the body would have gone into liquidation had it not received financial assistance from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) following the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

But Graham told insidethegames World Sailing was in a “completely different scenario” as it works on its budget for the new Olympic cycle in preparation for Paris 2024.

Para sailing – which was last on the Paralympic programme at Rio 2016 – will not feature in the French capital after failing to be readmitted by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

But Graham insists this will not stop them from investing into the discipline having set out a strategic plan to boost its reinstatement bid.

“For this quad, a significant amount of our budget will go towards Para sailing,” said Graham.

Graham stressed that the new budget had yet to be presented and approved by the World Sailing Council, but he added: “We are now in a much stronger position and there is significantly more money going into the development of our sport in this next quad, more money and more resources in terms of people.

“Para is an important part of that.”

Para sailing featured at five successive Games from Sydney 2000 to Rio 2016 only to be dropped in 2015 prior to Tokyo 2020. – Full report