RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The Paralympics will go ahead in Rio next month but organizers said Friday that deep budget cuts mean a venue will close down, facilities will be dismantled and the workforce will be reduced.
Poor ticket sales have compounded existing financial challenges in recession-battered Brazil which have already impacted operations at the Olympics, which close Sunday.
Rio has less than three weeks to prepare for Paralympics, the pinnacle of the disability sport calendar where organizers hoped to build on progress made at the well-attended games in London four years ago. Rio organizers report ticket sales of just over 290,000 tickets for the Sept.