Turkey will send a 16-athlete team to next month's Paralympic Games in Beijing, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported on Thursday.

Ibrahim Gumusdal, secretary-general of Turkey's National Paralympic Committee, was quoted as saying that they are well prepared for the upcoming games.

"Eight Turkish athletes competed in the games in Athens in 2004 and won a gold and a bronze medals. Now, we are going to Beijing with 16 athletes and hopeful of winning 5 to 6 medals in shooting, archery, weightlifting, table tennis, wheelchair tennis, athletics and judo," he said.

Gumusdal added that if their athletes were supported financially, they could have 30 to 50 athletes competing in the London Games in 2012.

More than 4,000 athletes with disabilities from 150 countries and regions will gather in Beijing for the Paralympic Summer Games, which take place from September 6th through the 17th.

Since 1988 the Paralympics have taken place following the Olympics using the same facilities and venues. Like the Olympics, the Paralympics attract global sponsors, issue thousands of media credentials, enforce anti-doping policies, and have built infrastructures for the development of disabled athletes.

(Xinhua News Agency August 29, 2008)