The BT Paralympic World Cup, the largest annual international multi-sport competition in the world for disability sport, had been staged annually in Manchester since 2005 after being formed by the BPA in collaboration with the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

BT has been the title sponsors of the event since 2009 while London 2012 Paralympic broadcaster Channel 4 took over from the BBC in televising the event in 2011 and 2012.

As insidethegames reported exclusively in January, the event will no longer go ahead but Hollingsworth revealed that there are still plans to have multi-sport Paralympic event in the UK

"There was never an intention for the former Paralympic World Cup to continue in the way it had previously been prescribed post-2012," Hollingsworth told insidethegames at the BPA headquarters here.

"But there is still a huge ambition from the vast majority of the sports and from ourselves to have some opportunity for there to be a multi-sport competition in the UK.

"So what we are looking at now is what opportunities there are, what venues there could be and what funding there could be; because that is obviously a very critical point.

"There are a lot of very willing partners involved and some fantastic potential.

"But at this stage, there is nothing definite planned in terms of a multi-sport event and we are very unlikely to be in a position to do anything in the first half of this year."


Hollingsworth said that while every Paralympic sport would not be involved in a potential new multi-sport event, it could provide a big opportunity for sports that do not have many major events on their calendar.

"From our point of view, it is not for us to dictate to the sports," he said.

"The sports are responsible for themselves and responsible for promoting their own competitions.

"But what clearly can happen in this country is that people can be reminded of the wonder of London 2012 through the opportunity to see several sports in one place.

"There are a number of Paralympic sports for who there isn't an extensive competition schedule at present so it would be a great environment for some of those sports."

Hollingsworth also claimed the BPA have been able to build on the momentum of the London 2012 Paralympics through the ParalympicsGB Sports Fest.

The ParalympicsGB Sports Fest made its debut at Surrey Sports Park in December 2012, where over 1,000 people attend for come-and-try sessions and to meet Paralympic stars such as Jonnie Peacock.

Plans for a second ParalympicsGB Sports Fest have already been announced for Sheffield on April 26 and 27 with more set to follow.

"The Sports Fest events are a crucial part of our commitment post-London to support the development of disability sport opportunities and make the most of the increased levels of interest in disability sport after the Games across the UK," Hollingsworth said.

"We were absolutely delighted with the response we received from the first Sports Fest event that we held last year.

"We had so many people through the door and we received such fantastic feedback from attendees that we were determined to hold another event early in 2013."

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