Founded in 1988 as a developer of motorcycle engines and parts, the company switched to the wheelchair business in 1995. It has a factory at its head office that manufactures wheelchairs for competitive sports.
On the 10th day of the quadrennial sporting event, Kamiji defeated Diede De Groot of the Netherlands in the final, winning the first gold medal for Japan in this category.
Yui Kamiji and Manami Tanaka brought Japan its first gold medal in women’s Paralympic tennis by winning the doubles event at the Paris Games on Thursday.
Japan on Tuesday defeated powerhouse South Korea on the first day of mixed gender boccia events at the Paris Paralympics to advance to the BC1\BC2 quarterfinals.
The team got off to a three-point lead in the three-a-side wheelchair event before the South Koreans briefly recovered to tie the match, only for Japan to score two more times to win 5-3 at South Paris Arena.
Swimmer Takayuki Suzuki secured Japan’s first Paralympic gold in Paris on Thursday in the men’s 50-meter breaststroke, while cyclist Keiko Sugiura suffered an upset as she failed to advance to a medal race during the qualification round.
Japan has sent 175 athletes, its largest overseas Paralympics team ever, joining the ranks of some 4,400 athletes from a record 168 delegations.
Three years after finishing the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games with a bronze medal, Japan wheelchair rugby captain Yukinobu Ike is ready to lead his team to the top of the podium at Paris 2024. It took Japan wheelchair rugby captain Yukinobu Ike six months to watch recordings of his matches from the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, and it took him another six months for him to put the semifinal defeat behind him. “I competed at Tokyo 2020, thinking this was the only opportunity for Japan to win the gold medal. I believed it was the only time I could ever win gold in my life,” said Ike, a two-time Paralympic bronze medallist. “It was very shocking to miss out on that medal.” Three years later, Ike is preparing to lead his team at the Paris 2024 Paralympics, where he wants to realise his dream winning a gold medal.
The Japanese delegation to the Paris Olympics, which begin later this month, will include four mental health experts to help create a better environment for Japanese athletes. It will be the first Summer Olympics where such experts, called “welfare officers,” will accompany Japanese athletes. Previously, mental health services for Japanese athletes were provided online. But Dohi said it is “easier for athletes to talk” to accompanying experts.
Roman Kashpur, one of two Ukrainians using a prosthetic leg who will participate in the March 3 event, said in an online interview that by running the race he wants to give injured Ukrainian soldiers the will to live again.
Para-athlete Natsumi Inouchi has won the Beppu Oita Marathon, winning the women’s visually impaired category, finishing at 3 hours, 14 minutes and 24 seconds.
Inouchi fell from a station platform in November last year, colliding with a train. She was unable to train for a month due to a right leg injury, and finished the Hofu Yomiuri Marathon in December in 3 hours and 25 minutes.
Barrier Free Japan