Organizers have pledged to stage the “biggest and most exciting” edition of the event in two years’ time.
The Games will take place between August 25 and September 6th featuring 540 events across 22 sports that will see 4,500 Athletes expected – which is a record number.
The most popular sports have been spread out across the Games so “spectators can enjoy the dramatic highs and lows from the beginning to end”, it is claimed.
Events have also been scheduled in a bid to make them “more accessible to families and a wide range of other people that see’s Tokyo 2020 take a holistic approach when compiling the schedule, taking into account the athletes’ experience and well-being, technical rules and regulations of the various International Federations (IFs), gender balance, the popularity of individual sports in Japan, operational considerations, and the global TV audience,” a statement said.
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) have approved the schedule that see’s Seven (7) sports see action a day after the Opening Ceremony (August 26) track cycling, goal-ball, swimming, table tennis, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair fencing and wheelchair rugby.
Athletics will take place in the Olympic Stadium between August 28 and September 5, with boccia played between August 29 and September 5 and the Triathlon will take place August 29th and 30th with the wheelchair Rugby final providing an early highlight on August 30.
This marks a change to the usual schedule which normally sees team finals held towards the conclusion of the Games.
Road Cycling will begin on September 1 with Badminton and Taekwondo, the two new sports on the Paralympic programme, taking place in week two from September 2 to 6 and September 3 to 5 respectively.
Wheelchair tennis finals will be held September 4th and 5th with the Wheelchair Basketball medal clashes on September 5th and 6th as the men’s and women’s marathons will be held on the final day of the Games.
Yoshiro Mori, President of Tokyo 2020 mentioned “The schedule for 12 days of fierce competition between a record 4,400 Paralympians from around the world has been framed.”
“Twenty-two sports are scheduled, spread in a well-balanced manner across the length of the Games, so spectators can enjoy the dramatic highs and lows from beginning to end and from now on, I would like people from around the world to look forward to the Games.”
He continued “We believe that watching a powerful display of sporting prowess on-site, with the high performances of Paralympians who are pushing their limits to create the drama of the Games, will be an experience that reaches many people’s hearts.
Thanks to Desk Editor at insidethegames.biz for the info.
