BEIJING, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Election of new members to the Athletes' Council of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has begun, the Paralympic ruling body said.

    The 4,000-plus athletes taking part in the Beijing Paralympics could cast votes in the Athletes' Village in Beijing between September 4 and 15, and in Hong Kong and Qingdao between September 5 and 8.

    Each athlete can select three to six from a ballot of 14 eligible candidates.

    The IPC Athletes' Council is the collective voice of Paralympic athletes within the IPC and the greater Paralympic Movement. It works to ensure effective athlete representation on all IPC committees and commissions as well as to create other opportunities for athlete representation both within and outside of the IPC.

    The Council is composed of nine Paralympic athlete representatives elected for a four-year term, with six elected fromsummer sports and three from winter sports. Candidates are nominated by their respective National Paralympic Committee (NPC) and must have competed at a Paralympic Games within the previous eight years.

    Following are the list of the candidates:

    Athanasios Barakas, athletics, Greece

    David Smetanine, swimming, France

    Heinz Frei, athletics, Switzerland

    Kim Im-yeon, shooting, South Korea

    Joost de Hoogh, swimming, the Netherlands

    Lars Lofstrom, sailing, Sweden

    Ljiljana Ljubisic, athletics, Canada

    Maha Bargouthi, table tennis, Jordan

    Marketa Sidkova, archery, Czech Republic

    Michael Teuber, cycling, Germany

    Moises Fuentes Garcia, swimming, Colombia

    Robert Balk, athletics, the United States

    Teresa Perales, swimming, Spain

    Yu Chui-yee, wheelchair fencing, Hong Kong of China