NAGOYA – The Aichi-Nagoya Asian Para Games (APG) got under way on Oct 18 with an opening ceremony, with around 4,000 athletes and officials from a record 45 countries and regions set to participate in the continental sporting event.

Emperor Naruhito officially declared the Games open during the ceremony at Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium in Nagoya, with Crown Prince Fumihito and Crown Princess Kiko also present.

The host nation will field about 280 athletes across all 18 sports, contested primarily in Nagoya and other cities in Aichi prefecture, central Japan, during the week-long event till Oct 24.

Representing Japan, wheelchair rugby player Katsuya Hashimoto and sprinter Moe Nakagawa served as flag bearers.

The torch relay for the opening ceremony started on Oct 10 in Aichi’s Okazaki before passing through several other cities in the prefecture. On Oct 18 night, the cauldron was lit.

Asian Paralympic Committee president Majid Rashed said, “Sport brings people together when the world can sometimes pull them apart. Here, our differences do not divide us.”

The organisers hope the APG will further raise awareness of people with disabilities in Japan following the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021.

Some events, including shooting, will be qualifiers for the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics. The men’s and women’s wheelchair tennis singles champions will earn direct Paralympic qualification.

The APG, which end on Oct 24, follow the Asian Games, in which Japan achieved its best-ever result of 269 medals, including 83 golds. China topped the standings with 341 medals, of which 169 were golds.

Team Singapore’s flag bearer is para-sprinter James Ang. He leads a 20-strong contingent competing in nine sports – para-archery, para-athletics, para-badminton, boccia, para-cycling (road), para-judo, para-swimming, shooting para sport and para-table tennis.

Low See Lien, Singapore National Paralympic Council vice-president, is the chef de mission.

Japanese men’s and women’s wheelchair tennis world No. 1 stars Tokito Oda, who hails from Aichi prefecture, and Yui Kamiji will be among the biggest attractions of the Games.

Among team sports, wheelchair rugby returns to the programme for the first time in three editions and Japan seek to retain their wheelchair basketball title.

The latest Games are the fifth edition of the APG, since the event was launched in its current form in 2010 in Guangzhou, China.

The forerunner to the APG – the Far East and South Pacific Games for the Disabled, was first held in Oita prefecture, south-western Japan, in 1975 and staged nine times before being reorganised. KYODO NEWS