Barrier Free Japan

Japan’s Shizuka Hangai, 38, and Shota Kawamoto, 30, on Monday clinched Asian Para Games gold in the women’s J1 class 52-kilogram judo event and in the men’s C1-2 class 3,000-meter individual cycling pursuit, respectively. A day after the opening ceremony was held for the quadrennial sporting festival mainly in the central Japan prefecture of Aichi, Hangai added the Asian Para gold to her medal haul after winning silver for the women’s 48 kg judo event at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games, which was her fourth Paralympics.

Sporting action began at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Para Games on Friday, two days before the opening ceremony, as Japan hosts the event for the first time. Japan were beaten 1-0 by China in blind football, while in men’s wheelchair basketball, the host nation defeated China 76-38. Table tennis and badminton also got underway in Aichi Prefecture in central Japan.

Japan’s Hiromi Endo arrives at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Para Games sitting second in the women’s boccia world rankings and looking to go one better than her runner-up finish at the recent world championships. Playing in the BC1 category for athletes with significant impairment of all four limbs and trunk, the 40-year-old emerged as Japan’s leading figure in boccia after the individual men’s and women’s events were adopted for the Tokyo Games in 2021.

Japan captain Ryo Kawamura has vowed to win men’s blind football gold at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Para Games and avenge a loss to China in April’s Asian Championship final that denied his team an automatic berth at the Los Angeles Paralympics.

Japan’s delegation to the upcoming Asian Para Games held a team-forming ceremony at a hotel in Tokyo on Tuesday. The Asian Para Games will run from Oct. 18 to 24 following the closing of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Sunday. Tuesday’s ceremony was attended by about 120 people, mainly athletes.