Athletics is one of the most widely practised para sports in Asia and with 37 of the 39 Asian nations taking part in the sport at the Tokyo Paralympics, Asian representation will be strong again at the Stade de France when the ten days of competition gets underway on 30th August.
At the recent 2024 World Championships held in Kobe, Japan, China topped the medal table, winning a total of 87 medals including 33 gold medals, Uzbekistan were in third place and India in sixth. Asian nations also accounted for eight of the 19 World records that were broken at the meet. This, alongside the twelve World Records set at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games in October 2023, means that Asian expectations will be high.
Ones to watch
China’s WEN Xiaoyan who took a hattrick of gold medals in Tokyo, and then again in Hangzhou. The 26-year-old competes both in both track and field and is the current World Record holder in all of her events (Women’s T37 100m and 200m and the T37 Long jump).
Asian nations are dominant in the Men’s Javelin, with GURJAR Sundar Singh (F46) and ANTIL Sumit (F64) hoping to repeat their Hangzhou performances where they broke the world record on their way to winning gold. Sri Lanka’s KODITHUWAKKU Dulan (Men’s F44 Javelin ) and China’s SUN Pengxiang (Men’s F41 Javelin) will also hope to be on the podium after breaking the world record in their respective events in Kobe.
China’s SHI Yiting won Paralympic Gold in the women’s T36 200m in both Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. Having broken the world record in Hangzhou then again in Kobe, she is likely to be confident to make it three from three Paralympic Golds.
Pakistan’s ALI Haider will once more have the hopes of his nation on him. Having competed at every Paralympic Games since 2008, he has the unique record of winning a country’s first ever gold, silver and bronze medal and is the only Pakistani to win a medal in Paralympic history. He secured qualification for Paris in Hangzhou when he took gold in the F37 discus.
