Japan Para Athletics Championships Heated battles unfold as athletes aim for Rio
The Japan Disabled Sports Association held the "Great East Japan Earthquake Recovery Support IPC Athletics Official 2016 Japan Para Athletics Championships" (Sponsors: Japan Airlines, National Mutual Insurance Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives, TANAKA Holdings, Tokyo Gas, Chugai Pharmaceutical, Mitsubishi Corporation, Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance, Mitsubishi Electric, Suntory Holdings, Daido Life Insurance, Toppan Printing, Morisawa, Toyota Motor Corporation, Goldwin, East Japan Railway Company, Tokyo Tatemono, Daikyo, Avex Group Holdings, Shimizu Corporation, Ajinomoto, Nomura Holdings, Daiwa Securities Group Inc., Tokyo Gas Cooperative Companies, All Nippon Airways, Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance, Nippon Yusen Kaisha).
The Japan Para Games are co-hosted by the Japan Disabled Sports Association Paralympic Committee and various sports federations to strengthen athletes. They are held under the official recognition of the IPC (International Paralympic Committee). In addition to track and field, competitions are held in swimming, goalball, wheelchair rugby, and winter alpine skiing and cross-country skiing.
(Related article: Japan Para Wheelchair Rugby: Four Powerhouse Nations Battle in Rio Prelude Tournament[May 25, 2016] )
This tournament served as a selection event for the September Rio Paralympics. Approximately 290 athletes, including world record holders and top-tier competitors, gathered from across the nation to compete fiercely in track, field, and throwing events. To ensure fair competition, athletes are classified based on their disabilities, competing against others within the same class.
In the men's 400m (T52, wheelchair athletes excluding cerebral palsy), Yuki Sato won with a season-best time equivalent to the world's second-fastest. Atsushi Yamamoto won the men's 100m (T42, lower limb amputation) and long jump (T42).
The highly anticipated Sae Tsuji won the women's 100m and 400m (upper limb amputation T47). Hitomi Onishi won the women's 100m (lower limb amputation T42) with an Asian record and also took the long jump (same category).
Sae Takakuwa, who won bronze at the 2015 World Championships, took gold in the women's long jump (lower limb amputation T44).
The provisional roster for the Rio Paralympics is scheduled to be announced by the Japanese Paralympic Committee in late June.
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