Tokyo: The Tokyo Paralympics opened Tuesday after delaying pandemic throughout the year and with viruses continued to cast a long shadow because Japan was against a surge in record in cases.
Like the Olympics, the event will be marked by strict virus rules, with almost all spectators forbidden and restrictions on athletes and other participants.
While the wave of domestic support emerged during the Olympics after months of negative polls, there was a deep concern in Japan as a paralympic approach to the country through the waves of the fifth virus.
More than 25,000 new cases are recorded on Thursday, and medical officers throughout the country have warned hospitals that are breaking the point with serious cases also at the highest record.
This is a challenging environment for the most important sporting event for athletes with disabilities, and head of the Andrew Parsons International Paralympics Committee has warned participants to self-satisfaction.
Apart from the background, IPC officials insist on the reach of the event will be “extraordinary.” “Of course the fact that we will not have the audience in the venue is a challenge,” Parsons told AFP in an interview.
“But we are sure we will reach more than four billion people through broadcast.” Local officials say the game can be held safely, with athletes and other participants subject to the same anti-infection rules applied to the Olympics.
Competitors can only enter the Paralympic village shortly before their events and must go in 48 hours from the end of their competition.
They will be tested every day and are limited to moving between training sites, competition sites and villages.
These steps are intended to prevent the game from becoming a SuperSpreader event – and officials said the Olympics proved that restrictions worked.
There were 552 positive cases related to the reported Olympics from July 1 to Saturday, the majority of Japan were employed by the game or worked as a contractor.
So far, 107 cases related to Paralympics have been confirmed.
But Olympic officials said there was no evidence of infection that spread from the game throughout Japan, where the case number had increased.
Organizers who still recognize the deteriorating environment.
“The situation of today’s infection is different from how it was before the Olympics.
It has deteriorated,” said Tokyo 2020 officially Hidemasa Nakamura on Friday.
“And the local medical system is also in a very strict situation.” The surge in the virus has caused tensions, with several local regions and schools cancel the planned trip to game events even though there was support for the program from Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike.
The atmosphere between Paralympians remains floating, after uncertainty delays throughout the year.
“It’s our time to aim at gold!” US Archer Tweet Matt Stutzman, a paralympic silver medalist who uses the “Armless Archer” handle.
Stutzman is among those who may appear in the podium medal during the match, which will see 4,400 athletes from around 160 national teams competing.
There are 22 sports, with competing athletes in various categories and classes depending on the nature of their disability.
Badminton and Taekwondo appeared for the first time.
The top names including Markus Rehm Germany, nicknamed the “blade jumper” for their gravity achievements in a long leap, which has made him three gold and bronze medals.
He has pushed to be included in the Olympics, but so far without success than fears that his prosthetic blade gave him profits.
Other household names include Tatyana McFadden, American wheelchair racer who will compete in the fifth summer summer paralympics.
He also appeared in Sochi’s winter games, where he won the silver medal in the country where he was born, when his adoptive mother and Russian born mother entertained him.
Japan will hope it can repeat the gold fever that sees it to bring home a record of 58 gold Olympic medals.
Among the expectations of the top medal were Shingo Kureida, the world wheelchair champion in power and was considered one of the biggest figures in sports.