The event, which is the largest international multi-sport event outside of the Paralympics, will see 174 medallists from Beijing competing in wheelchair basketball, swimming, track cycling and athletics.

It will be an excellent opportunity for the public to watch the British medallists and some new exciting talent in action, especially as we look forward to 2012, and in addition, many of the world's top names including South African swimmer Natalie Du Toit and amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius are competing.

The concept of the event was formed after the Athens Paralympics to ensure that there was greater high-level competition and media coverage between Paralympic years.

Traditionally, there was little of both; how could the media and the public follow and identify some of the athletes and understand the sports with some of its quirks including classification when they were only seeing it every four years?

Since the Paralympic World Cup started, the successful multimedia coverage of the event has helped to propel new names into the public arena and indeed last year's event was the first time we saw the likes of swimmers Heather Frederickson and Sam Hynd in action - both went on to win gold in China.

The Paralympic World Cup is an important in showcasing the BBC's continued commitment to disability sport and in reaching a mainstream audience.

There is a feeling that the general public were enthused and captivated by our coverage, both from Athens and Beijing, and talking with the regional radio stations and local people here in Manchester I honestly believe that the public have a far greater knowledge and understanding than they did a few years ago. Most of them certainly understand that Paralympic athletes train as hard as their able-bodied colleagues.

Significant changes have also been made within the sports themselves with Paralympic athletes in cycling, swimming and athletics starting to get the same levels of support as their Olympic counterparts and it is critical for the success of Paralympic sport that this trend continues.

The last few weeks have been extremely busy in ensuring that there is as much coverage across all the BBC platforms to promote British and International athletes and one of my roles is to ensure that if we are covering, for example, the cycling team, can we provide content for all of the television, radio and online outlets.

The event comes to a conclusion on Bank Holiday Monday on BBC Two with Steve Cram presenting live from Aquatics Centre from 1500-1715 BST when we see some top-class international swimming combined with extensive highlights from the finals of the wheelchair basketball and the best of the action from athletics and cycling.

For the first time, Paralympic Sport will be broadcast on 5 Live Sports Extra, when the digital station will cover the track cycling and wheelchair basketball on Friday afternoon.

As the action gets underway I am looking for some electric basketball action and apart from watching the likes of Paralympic gold medallists Dave Weir and Jody Cundy in action, I am really hoping that after a injury-ravaged 2008, 800m runner Danny Crates can make a successful return to top-level competition on Sunday in what will be his 'Paralympics'

If you are in and around Manchester, you won't miss that the event is taking place and we hope the good folks of Manchester come out to support the event.

I'd be interested to know what you think about our coverage of the Paralympic World Cup. Let me know what you liked and whether you would like to see us do anything differently.

The Paralympics have certainly grown in numbers and stature since the first Games in Rome in 1960. Those first Paralympics which were held in same venue as the Olympics', saw 400 competitors from 23 countries taking part.

Next year approximately 4000 athletes from 150 different countries will compete in China.

What can we expect from the organisers of the Games and how well will they be attended and supported?

Will the transportation system cope and will the Chinese authorities have improved the access in and around the city?

What will be the Chinese people's reaction to seeing so many disabled athletes and spectators for the first time?

How will the mass media cover the Paralympic Games?

Media coverage has greatly increased in the past few Games with the Barcelona Games in 1992 benchmarked in organisational excellence but the real breakthrough was the 2000 Sydney Games where record crowds witnessed a new level of competition and subsequent media coverage.

It's expected that more than 3000 of the world's media will be accredited to cover the Games.

Certainly in the BBC our television coverage of the Paralympics has increased from a 40-minute post produced delayed production in Atlanta, to daily 45-minute programmes transmitted on BBC TWO primetime television from Sydney.

The Athens Games saw us take the next step forward with 90-minute live programmes each day, Tanni Grey-Thompson winning gold during breakfast time and live coverage of GB men's basketball team winning bronze.

As the athletes ensure that they are top shape for Beijing, we here at BBC Sport are gearing up for next year's Paralympics and are looking to expand our coverage, Beijing with it's time difference and cultural experiences offers us some fresh challenges.

What are your hopes/expectations for the Beijing Paralympics?

Who do you think the stars will be?

With China looking to dominate, what are the British expectations? This year has seen most of our teams in action.

Paralympic promise?

Qualification has been the order of the year for 2007 for many of the GB competitors and there have been some positive signs, will this year's results turn into Paralympic medals in China?

The Wheelchair rugby team won the European Championship for the third consecutive time. Those of us present in Espoo, Finland, will remember how it almost ended in tears: With just a few minutes remaining GB were losing to Sweden in their semi-final and only the winner qualified, but the experience of the British squad counted in the end. Will they have the necessary skill and tactics to improve on fourth place in Athens?

During September, our Basketball teams were in action at the European Championships one of the best performances of the year was the Women's team comprehensively beating Spain to win bronze and claiming the final European position in next year's tournament. It was rewarding to see Gary Peel's squad at last showing their potential, however they will have to continue their progress as tougher assignments await them in Beijing.

The men, under the guidance of new coach Murray Treseder, qualified as expected but they would have been disappointed not to beat Sweden in the final. With some younger players coming through can they finish in the medals next year, in what is one of the toughest events of the Games?

Although there has been no major competition this year, the athletics season has seen some positive steps forward by the likes of Ben Rushgrove, John McFall, Sophie Hancock, Nathan Stephens, Brian Alldis and Shelly Woods to name just a few. Before he went down with glandular fever Dave Weir had another terrific season including winning the London Marathon.

Wheelchair Tennis has seen a change this year with the experienced Jayant Mistry calling time on a distinguished career and a crop of youngsters making their way. Lucy Shuker has progressed through the world rankings and with Peter Norfolk making a successful return to winning ways after injury, wheelchair tennis is looking in good health ahead of Beijing and London.

It's been a quieter year for Swimming, with no European's this year (after last December's successful World Cup in South Africa). There have been, however, some competitive 'swims' espically in Manchester, Sheffield and Berlin. With a number of world records during the year, GB swimming under the astute leadership of Tim Reddish and his excellent coaching team, high hopes are expected of the squad which seems to have the right balance of experience and youth, however we haven't seen much of the Chinese swimmers.

With floods almost ruining the World Equestrian Championships in July, GB riders again proved they were the best in the world by retaining their team event, in addition there were individual gold's for Lee Pearson, Nicola Tustain and Sophie Christiansen.

During August our cyclists also proved they are currently top of the world by winning 13 golds at the World Championships in Bordeaux.

In Munich at the World Rowing Championships, debutant Tom Aggar claimed gold in the men's arms-only sculls and there was silver for the mixed coxed four in the adapative rowing (this will be a new sport in Beijing).

September saw the GB blind football team become the first football team to qualify for the Paralympics, when the 5-a-side team finished runner-up to Spain at the European Championships. There were only two spots available and to qualify for Beijing was a really creditable performance for the squad.

I always knew I wanted to be involved in sport and that I wanted to work for the BBC. I had an idea which turned into reality when I joined the BBC Sports Department at 18.

A few years ago I was looking at jobs in the BBC and felt there was a gap in the market. I felt we needed to improve the coverage of disability sport on the BBC.

It came off the back after the Sydney Paralympics and the lack of ramp for Tanni Grey-Thompson at the BBC Sports Personality awards. It was a real opportunity to make progress.

The role was to coordinate multi-media coverage and improve it by looking for new faces, new stories and new people. We cover disability sporting events - preview and review them, and bring new names and faces to the public.

The Disability online site was born from that and has been successful and award-winning. It's home for all Paralympic sports across the world. The aim is to raise awareness and look at different sports and be a provider for news stories as and when they happen.

Disability sport needed, and still does, a dedicated person to push it. It's one of the many minority sports and it's up to the small team and myself to make it newsworthy and bring attention to the stories/personalities.

Our television coverage has increased during the past years with more comprehensive coverage of the Paralympics, the introduction of the Paralympic World Cup from Manchester, and the integration of disability sport into events such as Wimbledon and the London Marathon.

With radio we try to get more coverage on Five Live. If there's a story/event then there are opportunities during the daytime and evening shows. Disability sport coverage should be on, just as an able-bodied sport would be. With the BBC's many outlets it's important to tell the story across Radio 4, Children's TV, the World Service, BBC News and the local Regions to name just a few.

I used to compete for GB in wheelchair table tennis. I played at the World and European Championships but just missed out on being selected to participate at the Paralympics. Although I was working on our coverage of the Sydney Paralympics here in London, I was delighted to be part of our successful team in Athens and am looking forward to Beijing.

Outside of work I live with my teenage daughter Emma and naturally have a keen sporting interest. I am a season ticket holder at the Valley following the fortunes of Charlton and am Chairman of Charlton Athletic Disabled Supporters Association.

Cricket and Rugby are my other favourite sports and one of my most memorable sporting moments was watching England win the Rugby World Cup in Sydney. I am also playing a bit of wheelchair tennis and enjoy swimming.