“This is a fantastic opportunity to promote sport for players with an intellectual disability at its highest performance level.”

Portugal will look to defend their World Championships title on home soil in 2017 after INAS - the International Federation for Sport for Athletes with an Intellectual Disability - confirmed that the next World Futsal Championships have been awarded to the city of Viseu.

The event will take place in April, and the Portuguese team will be hoping to use home advantage to retain the title they won at the 2012 edition of the event, where they beat Hungary in the final.

"I am proud that INAS has awarded National Association of Sports for Intellectual Disabilities (ANDDI)-Portugal to host the fourth edition of the Futsal World Championships at the city of Viseu,” said ANDDI Executive Director Jose Costa Pereira. “This is a fantastic opportunity to promote sport for players with an intellectual disability at its highest performance level. It will be very enthusiastic to remember the hard work done in 2008 to build the first INAS World Futsal competition also organised in Portugal.”

INAS also confirmed that Thailand will host the first-ever Asia Open Swimming Competition from 26 January to 1 February 2016. The event will be the first of three INAS regional events to take place in Asia during the year, and is a further step toward fulfilling the organisation’s ambition to grow its regional competition programme.

Finally, marking a further new development for INAS, the Docklands Yacht Club in Melbourne, Australia, has been confirmed to host the inaugural INAS International Sailing Championships, which will be held between 22-26 January 2016.

The aim of the event is to assist the development of a competition pathway for sailors with intellectual impairments. It will be conducted over five days with single and two-person competition in Hansa 2.3 class and Hansa 303 class boats, respectively.

The City of Melbourne’s Community Boating Hub will be opened in late 2015, and the INAS International Sailing Championships will be the first major regatta conducted from the new facility.

“I am delighted to confirm these latest events in the INAS calendar,” INAS Sports Manager Gemma Nunnerley said. “Portugal are experienced hosts of major international events having organised both the European and World Futsal Championships, whilst the growth of our regional programme and new sports will make 2016 an exciting year.”

More information on INAS’ 2016-17 events can be found on its website.