The International Paralympic Committee's (IPC) President Sir Philip Craven has paid tribute to Pyeongchang after they were awarded the right to stage the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games.

Three candidate cities - Annecy (France), Munich (Germany) and Pyeongchang (Korea) - bid for the 2018 Games and after a secret vote by International Olympic Committee (IOC) members, including the IPC President, Pyeongchang was chosen as the host city.

Sir Philip Craven, the IPC's President said: "I would like to congratulate Pyeongchang on their thoroughly deserved success in winning the right to host the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games.

"The Pyeongchang region and Korea as a whole, has a long history of staging sport events for athletes with a disability.

"Their bid featured a very solid concept to boost the development of Paralympic Winter Sport in the region, throughout Asia and internationally and have committed considerable funds to support projects.

"They also committed to staging two sanctioned Paralympic sport events per year in each of the years leading up to 2018 which will help promote Paralympic Sport in this area, train staff and test venues.

"Aside from the winners I would also like to pay credit to the two unsuccessful cities. Both put forward comprehensive arguments on why they should host the 2018 Games and both highlighted the importance to them of staging the Paralympic Winter Games.

"Since our first Winter Games in 1976, the event has grown in terms of size and also stature. Last year in Vancouver, we had 502 athletes from 44 countries competing.

"No longer are the Paralympic Winter Games seen as just as a bolt-on to the Olympics. They are now seen as a fundamental part of one huge festival of sport. We can now look forward to the prospect of two very successful Paralympic Winter Games in the years ahead, first in Sochi 2014 and now Pyeongchang in 2018".

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