The international event was presented today in International Boarding Area E at Fiumicino Airport by the Chairman of Aeroporti di Roma, Antonio Catricalà, the CEO, Ugo de Carolis, the Chairman of the Italian Paralympic Committee, Luca Pancalli, the Chairman of the Italian Fencing Federation, Giorgio Scarso and the ENAC Director of the Rome airports, Patrizia Terlizzi.

Also present was a delegation of Italian athletes, the key players in the Paralympic World Fencing Championships: from the Paralympic fencing champion of Rio 2016, Beatrice “Bebe” Vio, to the Italian sabre fencer and sword fencer Alessio Sarri, to teammate of the National male sabre fencing team, expert Alberto Andrea Pellegrini and multiple fencing champion in category C, William Russo, in addition to the technical commissioner of the National Paralympic Technical Fencing team, Marco Ciari.

Great expectations are held for Wednesday 8 November, when, in the race for the female world fencing champion of category B, will be Beatrice “Bebe” Vio, Paralympic champion of Rio 2016 and former champion of Eger 2015. The morning session is scheduled for 09:00 to 13:00 and the afternoon session and finals are scheduled for 15:00 to 20:00. The competition days will be recorded and broadcast live on television and streamed by Rai Sport and can also be followed live by over 130,000 passengers who transit through Leonardo da Vinci on a daily basis, thanks to the large display screens installed by AdR within the Terminals.

This is the first time Italy is hosting a Paralympic World Championship, as the other occasions (Turin 2006 and Catania 2011) saw the concomitance and integration with Olympic World Fencing Champions. The Paralympic World Fencing Championships shall therefore have their own Capital forming the backdrop to the event, with the main national airport representing the initiative on an international level.

In support of the initiative, the Paralympic Champions will be welcomed by employees of AdR Assistance, an Aeroporti di Roma company dedicated to the assistance of passengers with reduced mobility, in order to enable the widest accessibility within the Rome airports, thanks to a team comprising over 300 operators.