After competing with pride and receiving an outpouring of support in Japan and beyond, the Refugee Paralympic Team showed the power of inclusion for displaced people with disabilities.
After competing with pride and receiving an outpouring of support in Japan and beyond, the Refugee Paralympic Team showed the power of inclusion for displaced people with disabilities.
At the Tokyo Paralympics Alia Issa of Greece, who became the first woman to compete as a member of the Paralympic Refugee team, also served as a flagbearer during the Opening Ceremony.
Two members of the Refugee Paralympic Team who have had incredible journeys to get to Tokyo are in action on Thursday (2 September) at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. For both Al Khalifa and Hakizimana, just competing in Tokyo is already a big victory.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, sends its best wishes to the Refugee Paralympic Team ahead of the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games in Tokyo on Tuesday. The team sends a message of hope to the more than 82 million displaced people around the world, including an estimated 12 million living with a disability.
Of the world’s 82.4 million refugees, 15 per cent – or 12 million people – live with a disability. Bringing attention to this group this month will be six athletes who have been selected as part of the Refugee Paralympic Team.
Nasajpour was born with cerebral palsy that left him with some mobility limitations on his left side. In 2015 he left Iran for the USA. He attended the Rio 206 Paralympics as an Independent Refugee Athlete. He is now a member of the Refugee Paralympic Team in Tokyo 2020.
Mohammad Abbas Karimi is a swimmer, who came second in the S5 50 meter butterfly event at the 2017 World Para Swimming Championships, making him the first refugee athlete to win a medal at that competition. He has won national championship events in Afghanistan, Turkey and the US. He came eighth in the 50 meter butterfly S5 event for the Refugee Paralympic Team at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Parfait Hakizimana is a Burundian parataekwondo practitioner who currently resides in Rwanda. He is representing the Refugee Paralympic Team at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in the under 61 kg category, Taekwondo. The Refugee Paralympic Team embodies determination and resilience. And none more so than Parfait Hakizimana. The Taekwondo star is set to compete with the best at the Paralympic Games.
Competitors in the #RefugeeParalympicTeam take part in events at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games. In the pool swimmer Abbas Karimi has the chance to become the first Paralympic refugee team member ever to win a medal after qualifying Friday morning in the men’s S5 50m butterfly. Alia Issa finished 8th in her competition.