Sports

Para badminton has been contested internationally since the 1990s, with the first World Championships taking place in Amersfoort, Netherlands, in 1998. But it was not until 2011 that the sport was brought under the governance of the Badminton World Federation.

Para cycling at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games featured 230 athletes who competed in 18 medal events on the track and 33 medal events on the road. After athletics and swimming, it was the sport with most medals up for grabs.

The Paralympic competition programme includes sprints, individual pursuits, the 1,000m time trial, road races and road time trials for both individuals and teams.

Road Para cycling made its Paralympic debut at New York/Stoke Mandeville 1984 and has been contested at every Games since. Track Para cycling entered the Paralympic programme 12 years later at Atlanta 1996.

The sport was developed in the 1980s and was first open to vision impaired athletes who competed in tandems with a sighted pilot.Over the following years, Para cycling started to include those with cerebral palsy, amputations and other physical impairments, who compete on bicycles, tricycles and hand cycles.

There are five sport classes for hand cycling, two for tricycle and five for bicycle, whilst the three sport classes for the tandem compete in one event.

Athletes participate in World Cups, world and regional Championships throughout the year.

Para cycling is governed by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI).

Boccia was practised for many years as a leisure activity before being introduced at the New York 1984 Paralympics as a competitive sport. It is one of only two Paralympic sports that do not have an Olympic counterpart (goalball being the other) and is governed by the Boccia International Sports Federation (BISFed).

Boccia is a game of strategy and accuracy that was originally designed to be played by people with cerebral palsy. Now, the sport includes athletes with impairments that affect motor skills.

The sport is played on a flat, smooth surface, where players must throw or roll coloured balls as close as possible to a white target ball, known as the “jack.” The player, pair or team with the most balls near the jack is the winner.

The individual and pair matches consist of four ends, while team matches have six ends. After each end, the athlete, pair or team with the ball closest to the jack receive one point, and an additional point for every ball that is closer to the jack than their opponent’s.

Each athlete, pair or team “throws” six balls per end.

Para archery was the first sport where wheelchair athletes had organised competition and was one of the original Paralympic sports at Rome 1960.

It is open to athletes with physical impairments who may shoot with assistive devices allowed under classification rules. The sport tests accuracy, strength and concentration. It includes specific competition categories for athletes with certain classifications: W1, compound open and recurve open.

In Para archery, the target size and distance archers stand from the target differs based on the competition category. In individual events, archers shoot 72 arrows at the 10-circle target, divided into 12 ends of six arrows each. Each athlete is allowed four minutes per round. The top-scoring athletes advance to 15-arrow head-to-head matches, which are single-elimination.

An archer using a recurve bow shoots at a target 1.22m in diameter, 70m away from the shooting line. A compound archer shoots at a target 80cm in diameter and stands 50m away.

World Archery is the global governing body of Para archery.

Para athletics is the biggest and most popular sport within the Paralympic Movement. The game is open to both males and females with different impairment, and it was one of the eight sports which were included in the Rome Italy 1960 Paralympic Games. The game falls under the governance of the International Paralympic Committee and it is open to male and female athletes in all eligible impairment groups. Para athletics games include a range of impairments including six different types of impairment: visually impaired, intellectually impaired, cerebral palsy, brain trauma, short stature, limb deficiencies, and impaired muscles power/impaired range of movement.

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Para canoe is a young sport which developed at the start of the century thanks to big efforts of the sport’s governing body International Canoe Federation (ICF) and the International Va Federation (IVF), who both pushed for the inclusion of Para canoe within abled-bodied competitions.
In 2009, the ICF organised the first Para canoe showcase event, which was a big success. One year later, Para canoe had its first World Championships and was included into the Paralympic programme at the IPC Governing Board meeting in Guangzhou, China.

Paralympic judo follows the same rules as Olympic judo, with the difference that judokas shall start and remain during the combat holding each other’s suits.

Only athletes with vision impairment are eligible to compete, with all the sight classes (B1, B2 and B3) competing together and divided according to the judokas’ weight.

Combats last five minutes for men and four for women. The aim is to either gain more points than the rival by skilful attacks or score the “ippon” by throwing the opponent with their back on the ground, immobilising them or forcing a submission.

Judo made its Paralympic debut at Seoul 1988 and has been contested at every Games since. Women’s events were added at Athens 2004. The sport is the only martial art on the programme.

At the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games there were seven different male weight divisions and six female weight divisions: -48kg, -52kg, 57kg, -63kg, -70kg and +70kg.

Athletes compete in a series of tournaments along the year, including World Cups and world and regional Championships.

Judo is governed by the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA).

Powerlifting is one of the Paralympic Movement’s fastest growing sports in terms of participants and is now practiced in nearly 100 countries.

The sport represents the ultimate test of upper body strength with athletes competing in the bench press discipline.

Competitors must lower the bar to their chest, hold it motionless on the chest and then press it upwards to arms-length with locked elbows. Athletes are given three attempts and the winner is the athlete who lifts the highest number of kilograms.

Such is the strength of athletes competing in this sport, that it is not uncommon to see a competitor lift more than three times their own body weight.

Open to male and female athletes with eight eligible physical impairments, athletes compete in one sport class across 10 different weight categories per gender.

Major competitions include the Paralympic Games which take place every four years, biennial World Championships, triennial regional Championships and annual World Cup and Grand Prix events.

Competition description

•  Men compete in the 49kg, 54kg, 59kg, 65kg, 72kg, 80kg, 88kg, 97kg, 107kg and +107kg divisions.
•  Women compete in the 41kg, 45kg, 50kg, 55kg, 61kg, 67kg, 73kg, 79kg, 86kg and +86kg divisions.

In powerlifting, male and female athletes assume a supine position on a specially designed bench, and after taking or receiving the bar at arms-length, the lifter shall wait with locked elbows and the bar under control for the Chief Referee’s signal.

After receiving the signal “start”, the lifter must lower the bar to the chest, hold it motionless (visible) on the chest and then press it upwards evenly, with an even equal extension of both the arms with locked elbows.

When held motionless and controlled in this position, the audible signal “rack” shall be given and the bar is returned to the rack.

Then an immediate decision shall be given by the three nominated international referees through a system of white and red lights. Two or more white lights signify a good lift and two or more red lifts reflect a no lift.

Each athlete has three attempts, and upon discretion of the jury a fourth attempt may be allowed to achieve a new world record, but this attempt does not count towards the final competition result.

Over 100 countries have featured para swimming and this specific game became one of the biggest and most attractive sports in Paralympic competitions. In Rome 1960 Paralympic Games, 77 swimmers from 15 countries competed in the sport. The game falls under the governance of the International Paralympic Committee and it is open to male and female athletes in all eligible impairment groups who compete in backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, freestyle, medley and relay events.

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Para Table Tennis falls under the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), and the game appeared at every Paralympic Games since Rome 1960. The game is practiced by athletes in more than 100 different countries and athletes come from all physical impairment groups including intellectually impaired persons, but visual impairment is excluded from this game. Players are allowed to compete in standing or sitting classes. Both genders can participate in individual, doubles or team events, and matches consist of five sets of 11 points each and are played in a best-of-five format.

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Taekwondo was introduced as a full member of the International Paralympic Committee in 2015 and will make its Paralympic debut at Tokyo 2020.

World Taekwondo (WT), the sport’s governing body, began developing the kyorugi (sparring) discipline for Para athletes in 2005. Since 2013, poomsae (martial art forms) is being developed as a competition format for athletes of all impairments.

In the Paralympics, athletes will compete in kyorugi (limb impairments and athletes with an arm amputation).
In 2009, the first WTF Para Taekwondo World Championships were held in Baku, Azerbaijan. The eighth edition took place in Antalya, Turkey, in 2019 and was the biggest to date, featuring almost 400 athletes from 69 nations. Seven new nations were represented for the first time, including Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Slovakia, Switzerland, Tanzania and Uganda.

Wheelchair tennis was founded in 1976 following work by former US freestyle skier Brad Parks.

The sport grew in the 1980s as France became the first country in Europe to put together a specific wheelchair tennis programme. The sport made its first appearance at the Barcelona 1992 Paralympics.

Today, wheelchair tennis is one of the fastest growing wheelchair sports in the world and fits seamlessly with the able-bodied game.

Opponents hit a tennis ball with a racket back and forth over a .914 metre (3ft) net in the middle of the court. The goal is to hit the ball into the opponent’s half of the court without them being able to return it.

There are no modifications to the size of the court, rackets or tennis balls. The main differences are the specially designed wheelchairs and the ‘two-bounce rule,’ whereby the ball can bounce twice before being hit.

There are three categories athletes compete in: men’s, women’s and quads; each division has singles and doubles tournaments.

Athletes compete in a series of tournaments including Grand Slams: Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open, plus the singles and doubles Masters.

Wheelchair tennis is governed by the International Tennis Federation (ITF).

Para triathlon was contested at the Paralympic Games for the first time at Rio 2016. Athletes race in three disciplines: 750m of swimming, followed by 20km of cycling and 5km of running.

Competition categories are based on specific physical impairments. Athletes may use a hand cycle, tandem bicycle or bicycle in the cycling portion and wheelchairs are permitted on the running portion of the course.The sport is practised in 37 different countries.

Sitting volleyball is a team sport featuring constant motion, communication and bursts of explosiveness. Two teams of six players are separated by a net and try to score points by grounding the ball onto the other side’s court.

Sitting volleyball has many similarities to its stand-up version, but with a few modifications.

Whilst teams in the stand-up version are separated by a raised net, sitting volleyball is played from a lower net. The court dimensions in sitting volleyball are also smaller.

The main difference between the two versions is that sitting volleyball, as its name implies, is played from seated positions. At all times, the athlete’s pelvis must be in contact with the ground, and service blocks and attacks are allowed.

It is played in a best-of-five set format, and the first to reach 25 points (with at least a two-point lead) wins the set.

Two medal events (men and women featuring eight teams each, total of 192 athletes) were contested at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

World ParaVolley is the global governing body of sitting volleyball.

Blind Football, also known as blind football, is an adaptation of football for athletes with a vision impairment. The sport has been governed by the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) since 1996 and it is played with modified FIFA rules. It featured at the Paralympics for the first time at Athens 2004, and has been contested at every Games since. Brazil have won gold at every Games.

World Championships take place every four years in between the Paralympics.

Football 5-a-side teams are made up of four outfield players and one goalkeeperOutfield players must be classified as completely blind (B1 category), which means they have very low visual acuity and/or no light perception, whilst the goalkeeper must be sighted or partially sighted (B2 or B3 category).

To ensure fair competition, all outfield players must wear eyeshades. Teams can also have off-field guides to assist them.The ball makes a noise due to a sound system located inside that helps players orientate themselves. As a result, spectators must remain silent whilst watching the game until a goal is scored.

Blind football is played on a rectangular field that measures 40m long and 20m wide. The whole length of the pitch must be covered by kickboards to prevent the ball from going out of play.

The duration of the match is 30 minutes, divided into two 15-minute halves. Each team can request a one-minute time-out in each half. During the last two minutes of both halves, and in case of an extra time, the timekeeper must stop the clock for a free kick, kick-in, goal kick and corner kick.