PARALYMPIC WORLD CUP
Dates: 7-11 May Venue: Manchester
Coverage: Daily reports and photos on the BBC Sport website. Coverage on BBC Two from 1600-1745 Sunday

By Elizabeth Hudson

The Paralympic World Cup, which starts in Manchester on Wednesday 7 May, is one of the last major international disability sport competition before the Beijing Paralympics.

Over 400 athletes from 45 countries will take part in the event which includes four sports - wheelchair basketball, cycling, swimming and athletics.

BBC OLYMPICS BLOG The programme in Manchester is just a taster of what will be on offer in Beijing Elizabeth Hudson

A strong British team will compete including some seasoned campaigners and some Paralympic hopefuls.

BBC Sport gives you the lowdown on some of the Britons who will be hoping for good performances as they continue their build-up to Beijing.

There will be coverage of the event on BBC Two on Sunday 11 May from 1600-1745 BST.

With the retirement of Colin Price and the absence of Andy Blake, Munn is now GB's most experienced player after making his debut way back in Barcelona in 1992.

Munn will be hoping to compete in his fifth Paralympics in Beijing

GB need him to play well to have a chance of success, both in Manchester and, more importantly, in Beijing later this year as they seek to improve on their bronze from Athens.

The 40-year-old has a wealth of experience after spells playing professionally in Italy with Porto Torres and Milan and is a key figure at both ends of the court.

At last year's European Championships in Germany, the Wolverhampton Rhinos player was GB's top scorer as they won silver, and earned a place on the All-Star team.

Under the basket, he is hard to stop and will provide much of the offensive threat for Murray Treseder's side as they take on Sweden, Germany and the USA in Manchester.

Four years ago at the Athens Paralympics, tandem pairing Aileen McGlynn and Ellen Hunter created history as Great Britain's first gold medallists of the Games.

Hunter and McGlynn have been in impressive form

Now they are gearing up for their second Games and continue their preparations by taking part in the tandem kilo and tandem pursuit events at the Manchester Velodrome on Thursday and Friday.

The pair - Hunter, who is based in Cornwall, is the fully sighted pilot with Glasgow woman McGlynn the visually impaired athlete - have enjoyed plenty of success in Manchester.

At the Paralympic Omnium event at the recent World Track Championships at the Velodrome, they lowered their own kilo world record to one minute 10.381 seconds.

Like the kilo, they are defending world champions in the pursuit and will be trying to make sure they retain their unbeaten record ahead of the GB team selection next month.

The 30-year-old, who is now based in Hereford, has the chance to make history in Beijing as he bids for his third double individual gold medal haul in a row in the S6 category.

Kindred was among GB's gold medallists in Athens

Kindred has been dominant in the 200m individual medley (the event he will compete in in Manchester) for many years but youngster Matt Whorwood and Gareth Duke, who were second and third at the 2006 Worlds, are chasing fast.

But it would still be a surprise if the experienced campaigner did not emerge victorious in Manchester, where he trained before moving to Hereford.

"One of Sascha's greatest strengths is that he loves the sport and refuses to be beaten," said former teammate and Paralympian Giles Long, who retired last year.

"He is a great all-rounder and you must have a good breaststroke to be a good medley swimmer, and he is one of the best in the world."

While Natalie du Toit is still ahead of the field in the S9 category, teenager Watkin is fast closing the gap on the South African.

Watkin is one of swimming's rising stars

Since finishing fourth at the 2006 World Championships, the 15-year-old Swedish-born Kelly College student has improved her personal bests considerably and recently broke the 100m freestyle European record for her class in Sheffield.

Her performances have seen her nominated to the British swimming team for the Beijing Paralympics, where she will be one of the youngest on the GB team.

Du Toit has been concentrating on her open water swimming as she chases Olympic qualification, which could allow Watkin to shine in front of a home crowd.

"Last year I didn't do myself justice at the Paralympic World Cup," she told BBC Sport.

"But this year is a chance to put that right and also see where we are at this stage of the year."

With the retirement of Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson last year, Weir is now Britain's top wheelchair racer and will be aiming to add to his reputation in Manchester where he will compete over 400m and 1500m.

Weir claimed a famous victory in last month's London Marathon

The 28-year-old won two golds at last year's event but after that he was struck down by a virus which kept him out of action for the latter part of the year.

Now happily back to full fitness, he claimed his third London Marathon title in a row last month - his fourth overall - winning in a dramatic sprint finish.

Now he switches attention from the road to the track with Manchester providing a good opportunity to see how he performs there.

After Manchester, he is set to travel to Beijing to take part in the China Open test event at the National Stadium - a venue where he will be hoping to clinch Paralympic gold in September.

Sunday promises to be a busy day for the 33-year-old Deeside athlete with two events - the shot and the discus.

Jones won bronze in the sprints at the 2006 Commonwealth Games

The former sprinter has switched her attention to the throws and is the current world champion and world record holder in the F37 shot competition and has now added the discus to her repertoire.

Her main rival in the discus will be Australian Amanda Fraser, who holds the world record and is the world champion, but there will also be strong competition from Na Mi of China and Eva Berna of the Czech Republic.

In the shot, she goes in as the world leader and full of confidence having bettered her own world best on her way to winning the able-bodied Welsh Indoor Championships earlier this year.

Jones won the shot competiton at last year's Paralympic World Cup and will be hoping to do the same again in her first major outdoor competition as she continues her preparations for Beijing where she will be hoping to come away with a medal.