The association, set up in 2009, has already formed a youth team as it raises the profile of the sport.
As the name suggests, handcycling allows wheelchair-bound athletes to cycle on specially modified bicycles.
Some of these athletes will compete with able-bodied athletes in races like the Aviva Ironman 70.3 Singapore Triathlon.
40-year-old Foo Fung Liang, an active sportsman before an armed robbery in the US left him paralysed from the waist down, is one of eight athletes making up the five teams competing in the Aviva Ironman race.
Joining Mr Foo is polio victim Gregory Burns, a Singapore Permanent Resident and full-time motivational speaker.
The three-time US Paralympic swimmer said perceptions about the sport has changed.
"There is nothing disabled about this bike, and when people look at it and when they see us, they are not thinking 'they are disabled'; they are thinking 'that's cool, I want one and that's really neat'," he said.
Meanwhile, competing in the swim leg of the Ironman race is retired biologist Hans Koeppen.
The 54 year old suffered irreversible damage to his spinal cord after a traffic accident in 1986.
Dr Koeppen is the 2007 and 2008 World Ironman Champion in the handcycling category.
HAS said there are currently only 15 modified bikes in Singapore.
It is looking at increasing the number and seeking additional funds to do that, as its ultimate plan is to introduce the sport into the 2015 ASEAN Para Games which Singapore will host.
ORIGINAL SOURCE
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