News “It seems like only two days ago that I was in London passing the flag on to Rio de Janeiro, but here we are with just one year to go until the first Paralympic Games in South America ” The words spoken by Sir Philip Craven, president of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), were a glimpse of the excitement building at the one-year-to-go Paralympic Festival in Rio Janeiro this weekend Sir Philip was joined by para-athletes – including the world's fastest Paralympic sprinters – musicians, dancers and plenty of well wishers at the two-day sports and culture festival by Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas “The responsibility of what’s ahead is big, but Rio will deliver an incredible Games and Brazil will perform brilliantly, and not just within the arenas,” said Andrew Parsons, president of the Brazilian Paralympic Committee (CPB) and IPC vice-president, during the festival “Our goal is to selll 3 3 million tickets – half a million more than in London 2012,” he explained, with tickets going on sale to Brazil’s residents today Despite the passing rain showers, local crowds were out in force at the festival, trying their hands – and feet, and ears and eyes and touch –  at various Paralympic sports, as well as watching the pros in action Brazil women’s sitting volleyball team had a rematch against USA, who beat them 3-0 in the Parapan American Games in Toronto last month The Brazilians were victorious on home turf, winning 3-2 Gracious in defeat, the American team loved coming down to take part in the match: “It was super exciting, I’ve never played outside before and now… wow, it’s such a beautiful place, with that awesome landscape, it was totally special,” said American volleyball player Bethany Zummo “Brazil is my favourite country to visit, so I hope I’ll come back next year ”The USA team was in awe of Rio's stunning backdrop from the Lagoa (Photo: Rio 2016/Alex Ferro) The two best Paralympic five-a-side football teams in the world, Brazil and Argentina, also had a Parapan Games rematch, though Brazil were not able to repeat their 2-1 Toronto victory, with a 0-0 draw in today’s match “The game was really hard, as it always is against Argentina, hence the draw,” said Jefinho, the star player in the Brazilian team “But the event was great Trying them out is the best way to get to know Paralympic sports, and people here today had the chance to check out lots of sports ” Festival goers also watched a wheelchair basketball match, and the crowning of Cuba’s Omara Durand and Ireland’s Jason Smyth as the fastest para-athletes in the world IPC president Sir Philip, a five-time Paralympian in wheelchair basketball, shows them how it's done (Photo: Rio 2016/Alex Ferro) “We’re hoping for lots of support from all of you on the pitches, the courts, in the swimming pools, the stadiums and arenas next year,” said Jefinho Tickets for Brazil’s residents went on sale today, with a full list of authorised ticket resellers for overseas territories due to be published on Rio2016 com later this month