DISABLED athletes in County Durham are set to benefit after energy supplier npower ploughed £16,000 into the English Federation of Disability Sport's fund for the forthcoming year.

The amount was then matched by Sportsmatch, leaving the EFDS £32,000 to provide for athletes across the North-East.

npower had originally planned to sponsor the EFDS programme of sporting events for this year, but joined forces with the disability sports organisation to apply to Sportsmatch, the government's business sponsorship incentive scheme for grass roots sport, which matches pound-for-pound the donation of commercial sponsors if a bid is successful.

npower will sponsor a number of events over the next year, including visually impaired archery, adaptive rowing and a variety of athletics events. The sponsorship will also support a programme of club and coach development and the production of a regional disability sports documentary