China will initiate such Paralympic sports as wheelchair rugby, equestrian and sailing after the Athens 2004 games, a spokesman of the China Paralympic Committee (CPC) told Xinhua in Athens on September 26.

Zhao Sujing, executive secretary-general of the CPC, said the national governing body for sports by athletes with disabilities had sent a special task force here to collect information on the sports and development plans would be worked out so that these sports be soon introduced in China.

China also did not compete in wheelchair basketball and boccia in Athens due to failure to qualify for these sports in the Athens games, Zhao said.

"But these sports are being developed in China according to their respective national programs, no matter if they are to be listed as medal sports in Beijing in 2008," she added.

The program for the Beijing games four years later are to be finalized through discussions between the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and the Beijing Organizing Committee for Olympic Games (BOCOG), said Miriam Wilkens, IPC Communications Director.

"They are to be fixed three years before the (Beijing) games," she added.

Source: Xinhua