Athletes02 – Asian Paralympic Committee

ATHLETES

Cuiping Zhang (Shooting)

She is one of the biggest names in the Shooting Para Sport. With her sharp and accurate shooting skills, Zhang has been on a roll since her Paralympic debut in Beijing 2008 where she won two silver medals. She turned the medal colour to gold at the London 2012 Paralympic Games winning the R2 (women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1) title and set a world and Paralympic record in the process, followed by another Paralympic title in R8. She maintained her golden streak at Rio 2016 too taking the gold in R6 (mixed 50m rifle prone SH1) and R8 besides a silver in the R2 event.

Mohamad Ridzuan (Athletics)

Having made his senior debut in 2011, Ridzuan went on to become the first Malaysian to win a Paralympic gold taking the Men’s 100m T36 gold in Rio. He also has a gold from the 2015 World Para Athletics Championship while at Dubai 2019, he settled for a bronze. At the Indonesia 2018, he cliched three gold medals in 100m, 400m and long jump T36 events. In fact, his 11.87 seconds run at 100m finals was a world record effort. He is certainly a big medal hope for Malaysia in Tokyo 2020.

Amilova Fotimakhon (Swimming)

The 19-year-old from Uzbekistan was a sensation at the Indonesia 2018 Asian Para Games winning seven medals, including four golds. In the process, she also smashed two world records in as many days giving a strong indication of what was coming next. A gold medallist at the Rio Paralympics, Fotimakhon will be a strong contender at the World Championship and Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.

Sareh Javanmardi (Shooting)

The first female shooter to win Paralympic gold for Iran, Javanmardi has come a long way since winning the bronze medal at London 2012 which was also the beginning of a blossoming career. She is now a three-time world, two-time Paralympic champion and holder of two world records. Her most recent achievement was double gold at the 2018 World Championships in Choengju, South Korea. She will be eager to defend her titles at Tokyo 2020.

Shingo Kunieda (Wheelchair tennis)

With 26 Grand Slam titles besides three Paralympic gold medals, Kunieda is the considered the best wheelchair tennis player the sport has ever produced. After struggling with injuries for more than a year, the Japanese superstar was back with a bang in 2018. He won two Grand Slams and the Singles Masters and, returned to the world No.1 after two years. This year, he has been on a roll having already won three titles and aims to extend the streak in the year ahead. The elusive Wimbledon title and Tokyo 2020 gold is his main targets.