Paralympic Games 2016: Rio organisers say only 12% of tickets sold

The Paralympic Games run from 7 to 18 September

Rio 2016 organisers say just 12% of available tickets for next month's Paralympic Games have been sold so far.

However, they remain confident the Games, which start on 7 September, will go ahead as planned.

Rio 2016 spokesman Mario Andrada said he hoped a new advertising push would help with ticket sales.

Rio chiefs also remain in talks with the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) over unpaid travel grants to national Paralympic bodies.

Andrada said the organising committee had experienced poor initial sales for the Olympics, too, and he expected growing local interest to boost Paralympic sales "as we have seen with other hosts before".

"We want to stage a very successful Paralympics, and we met our sponsors and broadcasters yesterday to confirm this," added Andrada.

The IPC has cancelled a news conference planned for Thursday, when they had intended to give a progress report on the Paralympics funding crisis.