Athletes’ disabilities are classified for the Paralympics to ensure fair competition. In athletics, this results in the men’s 100 meters being split into 16 different categories.
In a recent interview with Kyodo News, Misato Michishita, who holds the marathon world record for the women’s T12 class, said her single-minded obsession with Paralympic gold is what has kept her going for the last six months amid coronavirus-related restrictions.
The Japan Wheelchair Basketball Federation said Tuesday that a member of the Japanese women’s team has been deemed ineligible to compete at the Tokyo Paralympics for not being compliant with the International Paralympic Committee’s classification rules.
“I can’t go the stadium at the risk of my life…There is no life ‘with corona’ for me.”
Featuring 539 events across 22 sports contested at 21 venues, the Paralympic Games will take place in the Japanese capital city from 24 August – 5 September.
The Tokyo Summer Paralympics, postponed by one year due to the new coronavirus outbreak, will run from Aug. 24 to Sept. 5, 2021, the organizing committee for the games said.
Japanese para athletes with visual impairments or severe disabilities have struggled to train due to the closure of facilities and the need to practice social distancing due to the new coronavirus pandemic.
The World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan have been rescheduled to 26 August-4 September 2022. The Kobe World Championships were initially scheduled for 17-26 September 2021 but have been shifted to 2022 to avoid a clash with the Paralympics.
Shingo Kunieda earned his 10th singles title in Melbourne after brushing off Britain’s Gordon Reid 6-4, 6-4, while Yui Kamiji claimed her second Australian Open singles title by defeating Aniek van Koot of the Netherlands, also in straight sets.
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