Paralympic Games: Lord Coe Slams Media For Pushing Paralympics Off The Back Page

Lord Coe Slams Football Coverage

Lord Coe today hit out at the British press for "resorting to type" by allowing England's football win bump the Paralympics off the back pages on Saturday.

Most papers carried England's 5-0 victory over Moldova to lead their sports coverage, as Roy Hodgson's men opened their World Cup Qualifying campaign with their biggest away win for nearly two decades.

It came on a relatively barren day for ParalympicsGB, as discus thrower Josie Pearson won Great Britain's tenth athletics gold of the Games - but the only top medal of the day.

England's 5-0 rout of Moldova pushed the Paralympics off the back page

Her success came nine years after breaking her neck in a car accident, the 26-year-old setting three world records on her way to claiming the discus title.

Asked how the profile of Paralympic sport could be maintained after the Games, Lord Coe said: "With your (press) help. The future of Paralympic sport in large part lies with you, your editors and the ability of broadcasters to take this beyond the three or four weeks that we've witnessed here.

"It is a challenge for Olympic Sport, it is a challenge for Paralympic Sport."

Friday was a quieter day for ParalympicsGB but for Josie Pearson's gold

In an apparent attack on Paralympic coverage in Saturday's newspapers, the London 2012 chairman criticised "the speed with which we reverted to back-page leads for England-Moldova".

He added: "That relegation happened too quickly. We (the Paralympics Committee) could not have done more in the last seven years to move this on. It now sits in a large part with you guys.

"We will go on showing that Paralympic sports is an extraordinary sport. This now sits here.

"The speed with which we resorted to type last night was maybe not a great sign."

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