By Nick Butler

Sir Philip Craven, speaking at last night's Paralympic Flame Lighting Ceremony at Stoke Mandeville alongside Sochi 2014 chief Dmitry Chernyshenko, is among the Torchbearers announced today ©Getty ImagesMarch 2 - International Paralympic Committee (IPC) President Sir Philip Craven is among a list of figures announced today as the final wave of Sochi 2014 Torchbearers ahead of Friday's (March 7) Opening Ceremony of the Games.


The 34 figures chosen - representing the IPC as well as sports, sponsors and future host cities - will all carry the Torch around Sochi on Thursday and Friday (March 6-7) where they will be representing the Governing Body.

This will follow a Ceremony on Wednesday (March 5) in which the various Flames used in the Relay across Russia, as well as the heritage Flame lit last night at Stoke Mandeville Stadium, will be combined into one final Flame.

Also selected among the bearers is Wilfried Lemke, special adviser to the United Nations secretary general on sport for development and peace, as well as IPC vice-president Andrew Parsons and chairperson of the IPC Athletes' Council Todd Nicholson.

Also involved will be representatives from future Games, including the head of Paralympic integration at Rio 2016, Mariana Viera de Mello, and two South Korean Para-athletes, cross-country skier Vo Ra Mi Seo and wheelchair curler Hak Sung Kim.

Following these final legs of the Relay, the Games will begin with an Opening Ceremony in the Fisht Stadium...which will hope to emulate the success of the Olympic one last month ©Sports Illustrated/Getty ImagesFollowing these final legs of the Relay, the Games will begin with an Opening Ceremony in the Fisht Stadium...which will hope to emulate the success of the Olympic one last month
©Sports Illustrated/Getty Images



Representing Tokyo 2020 will be Mami Sato, the Japanese long jumper who was part of the victorious presentation team in Buenos Aires when Tokyo won the race to host the Olympics and Paralympics last September.

Four officials, one representing each of the Paralympic winter sports, will also be involved in the relay, consisting of Nick Dean, Hans Peter Neeser and Michael Peterson - who will represent Alpine skiing, Nordic skiing and ice sledge hockey respectively, along with World Curling Federation (WCF) President Kate Caithness.

The line-up will be completed by worldwide Paralympic and international partners, as well as supporters of the IPC's development arm the Agitos Foundation, including IPC Honorary Board member Hassan Ali Bin Ali.

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