An inspection team from the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) paid a visit last week to Cairo to prepare for the VISTA Conference 2023 that will take place in Africa for the first time. IPC is organising the first post-lockdown in-person meeting of its VISTA Conference in Cairo from 31 October to 3 November 2023.
VISTA was set up by the IPC in 1993 when it was felt that there was an urgent need to increase knowledge pertaining to elite sport for athletes with an impairment in the international arena. As a result, the concept of VISTA, which means a lengthy series of events, emerged.
The team consisted of Judith Van der Veen, the IPC medical manager, and Ekaterina Kutina, IPC manager of protocol, hospitality and events. They were accompanied by Heba Hafez, the VISTA manager in Cairo.
The three-day visit incorporated the New Administrative Capital, the expected host of the conference, in addition to a number of hotels. The team was shown available facilities and conference rooms in addition to the modern architecture and the novelty of the new capital.
They also visited the Egyptian Paralympic Committee and met Ashraf Al-Ougeil, EPC board member, Howeida Mondi, the EPC executive manager, and staff. They took photos with medals and trophies as well as with former presidents of the EPC. Al-Ougeil and Mondi expressed their gratitude to the IPC for awarding Egypt the right to host its first conference outside Europe and promised to hold an “outstanding conference” that will attract the world.
“We as Egyptians are very proud to be chosen by the IPC to host such a huge and effective scientific conference that will witness the attendance of 400 professors and doctors from all over the world in addition to the IPC president,” EPC President Hossameddin Mustafa said on the visit. “It is an honour bestowed on us and it proves that Egypt has become an attraction for all international events and conferences.
“With the help of the Ministry of Youth and Sports we will deliver a marvelous edition of the VISTA Conference that will never be forgotten. We started preparing for this conference very early and we are exerting our utmost efforts to make it a successful one and to please all the attending guests,” Mustafa said.
A scientific conference designed to promote and advance the mission, goals, objectives, and reputation of the IPC, VISTA 2023 will celebrate its 30th anniversary with the theme ‘Developing Para Sport: inclusion, transformation, and performance’. It will be hosted by the Egyptian Paralympic Committee in collaboration with the Egyptian Ministry of Youth and Sports.
VISTA provides an important international platform for scientists to exchange the latest current information, research, development, and expertise related to sport for persons with disabilities and the Paralympic Movement.
It promotes cross-disciplinary interaction among practitioners such as sport science scholars, disability inclusion scholars, sport managers, officials, coaches, athletes, sport medicine practitioners, classifiers, and sport administrators.
This will be the 11th version of the VISTA Conference. The first took place in Jasper, Canada in 1993. The success of that conference led to further conferences in Germany (1999), Sweden (2003), Germany (2006, 2011, 2013), Spain (2015), Canada (2017) and The Netherlands (2019).
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 VISTA Conference was held virtually and hosted by KU Leuven in Belgium in collaboration with the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa; the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden; the School of Kinesiology; Western University, Canada; the University of Pittsburgh in the US; and Yonsei University in South Korea.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 6 April, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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