DISABILITY sports stars of the future may well come from Worcestershire after the English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) pledged to pour more funding into the Midlands.

Dennis Hodgkins, regional development manager at the EFDS, has announced that Worcester-based sponsor npower, has given assurance that it will be donating sponsorship worth more than £18,000 to the organisation during 2006/07. This money will go towards the sports programme and the annual Midlands Disability Sports Awards, scheduled for next April.

An added boost to the EFDS is that npower's sponsorship has been matched pound-for-pound by the Government's SportsMatch scheme.

This will give an overall boost of £36,000 to the budget allocated to developing activities for disabled athletes across the entire Midlands region.

The programme will be covering a variety of sports including the development of a new tag rugby programme for 11 to 12-year-olds from Worcestershire.

The programme also includes cricket, football, swimming, athletics and golf and culminates in the npower Awards Evening when the achievements of athletes from across the region are recognised and rewarded.

This year's event was supported by celebrity guests, including paralympians Claire Cashmore, Nigel Murray, Ade Adepitan and Lee Pearson.

Aston Villa chairman Doug Ellis and the GB number one wheelchair tennis player, Jayant Mistry were also there.

Hodgkins, said: "£36,000 is a wonderful start to the 2006/7 programme. It will provide a solid springboard for our plans, which are already moving forward.

"We envisage announcing the programme of events taking place across the Midlands region in the near future.

"Our aim is to provide local disabled athletes with equal access to an increasing number of sports, facilities and coaching expertise."