Paralympics: Athletes offered grants worth $2 million to offset COVID-19

By Jack Tarrant

TOKYO (Reuters) - The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) announced on Thursday an unprecedented grant package worth 1.8 million euros ($2.2 million) to compensate losses from the coronavirus.

With the Tokyo 2020 Games postponed until next year because of the pandemic, the IPC's more than 200 federations, along with National Olympic Committees, have suffered huge losses.

The grants will be awarded from January 2021 to assist with athlete license fees, para sport development, education and preparations for the Tokyo Paralympics, due to begin in August.

"This is the IPC's biggest ever one-off investment into its members at a time when they need it the most," IPC President Andrew Parsons said in a statement.

The Games are the biggest source of cash for IPC federations. It expects total revenue this year to be around 20 million euros, down more than 7.5 million euros from 2018 when the last Paralympics took place.

IPC members can apply for the grants from Thursday.

(Reporting by Jack Tarrant; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)