The accolade, awarded for contributions to the Paralympic Movement, has only been given out 12 times in the last 20 years.

President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Sir Philip Craven was presented with the Lithuanian National Paralympic Committee’s highest award, the Badge of Honour, last Wednesday (4 December) at the Committee’s 2013 Sports Awards ceremony held in the company of Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius.

The accolade, awarded for contributions to the Paralympic Movement, has only been given out 12 times in the last 20 years.

The Best 2013 Lithuanian Disabled Athletes Awards were also given out to the following people:

1. Ramune Adomaitiene (athletics), coach Algina Vilcinskiene

2. Osvaldas Bareikis (judo), coach Arturas Sakas

3. Mantas Brazauskis (goalball), coaches Karolis Levickis/ Klaidas Janeika

4. Mindaugas Bilius (athletics), coach Rimantas Plunge

5. Donatas Dundzys (athletics), coach Jonas Baltrusaitis

6. Mindaugas Dvylaitis (swimming), coach Birute Statkeviciene

7. Simonas Kurutis (athletics), coach Deimantas Jusys

8. Gluosne Norkute (athletics), coach Dangyra Grigiene

9. Kestutis Skucas (swimming), coach Rasa Stravinskiene

10. Marius Zibolis (goalball), coaches Karolis Levickis/ Klaidas Janeika

Leaders from the NPCs of Belarus, Estonia and Latvia were also in attendance for the awards ceremony.

Just a day prior, Sir Philip spoke at the EU Conference on Gender Equality in Sport in Vilnius, Lithuania, working with other leaders to call for strategic actions across sport governing bodies in order to accelerate progress on gender equality in sport.