The rumour mills have started concerning classification, and here's a few updates for you:

Various athletes have been protested before the competition, and have resulted in a number of re-classifications:

• AUS - Ryley 'Baby Bat' Batt - leaps from a 2.5 to 3.5 - a huge change, and one that is more reflective of what he can do on the court.
• AUS - Scott Vitale from a 1.5 to a 2.0 (he was their only 1.5 on their team...)
• JAP - Satoshi Ito, who had gone in to the 2002 Worlds as a contested 2.0 (he went up to a 2.5) has now been re-classed as a 3.5
• JAP - two others bumped up, one other classed down. Details to follow....

This isn't a good time to be an Aussie or Japanese rugby fan. Maybe they should have come to the IWRF sanctioned Canada Cup after all, and then they'd have had a better chance to fine tune their team once classification had been settled.

Full-teams and the schedule of games can be found on our web site. Meanwhile, check out the CBC site which quotes our own Mr. Bacon today, as well as an article on our Canadian flagbearer, Chantal Benoit, who was nominatedfor that prestigious role by both the Canadian rugby and powerlifting teams. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) has a section of it's site devoted to Paralympic Games Coverage. Check it out!

I just called our Team Leader, who is at the Opening Ceremonies right now. Team Canada sounded happy and loud. Guess that's as close as I can get to that spectacular event.

The team will check in with me after the OC, and perhaps by that time I'll have the comments section fixed for you! Thanks to a certain Flyer Fan for the gentle hint. ;-)