PARALYMPIC fever is hitting Bolton.

As excitement builds for the forthcoming London Games, young people have been taking part in Paralympic sports.

They tried Boccia and New Age Kurling at the Bolton Lads and Girls Club, the co-organiser of Bolton 2012 Games, a sporting festival which is taking the borough by storm.

Boccia is a game similar to boules, with the aim to propel balls so they finish as close as possible to a white target ball, known as the “jack”. New Age Curling is an all inclusive sport and encourages abled bodied and the disabled to play the sport together,.

It is based on the sport played on ice, but can be played on all surfaces; the idea is to propel a “stone”

to the target at the opposite end of the court.

John Wolfe, senior sport co-ordinator at Bolton Lads and Girls Club, said: “With the London 2012 Games over, Boccia and New Age Kurling gave us the perfect opportunity to teach 14 young people two key Paralympic sports.

“Everyone had a lot of fun, learnt new skills and were given a glimpse into the Paralympic sports we will see over the coming weeks on our TVs.”

On Thursday, the youngsters proved to be a dab hand at handball, which took place at the University of Bolton.

Teams of eight to 11- years-olds took part in the morning while 12 to 14- years-old got to grips with the game in the afternoon.

Bolton Games 2012 have been put on by Bolton Council and Bolton Lads and Girls Club to bring the Olympic and Paralympic experience to young people in the borough.

As part of that Olympic traditions are being recreated as part of the sporting spectacular.

More than 800 young people will have had the chance to try 43 sports run by 40 clubs.

The idea is to showcase the wealth of sporting activities on offer in Bolton for young people.

Sporting events taking place tomorrow will be athletics and on Sunday it will rugby union.

There is still time to be part of the Bolton 2012 Games in other sports. For information visit bolton.gov.uk/Bolton2012 or call Bolton Lads and Girls Club on 01204 540100.