 | |
| First event | 2023 African Para Games in Accra, Ghana |
|---|---|
| Occur every | 4 years |
| Last event | 2023 African Para Games in Accra, Ghana |
| Next event | 2027 African Para Games in Cairo, Egypt |
| Purpose | Multi-sport event for athletes with physical disabilities from nations on the African continent |
| Games | |
|---|---|
| Sports (details) | |
The African Para Games is a multi-sport event contested by para-athletes from African nations.
The General Assembly of the African Paralympic Committee (AfPC) in 2021 in Rabat, Morocco, elected and endorsed Ghana to host and organize the first African Para Games. Pursuance to the decision in 2017 by the AfPC General Assembly to have a stand-alone multi-para sports event for persons with disabilities and an impairment in Africa.
The first edition of the African Para Games was announced by International Paralympic Committee, Andrew Parsons, in January 2022 during a visit to Ghana, the host country of the 2023 African Games. [1] [2]
| Edition | Year | Host City | Host Nation | Opened by [lower-alpha 1] | Start Date | End Date | Nations | Competitors | Sports | Events | Top Placed Team | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2023 | Accra |  Ghana | Mustapha Ussif [lower-alpha 2] | 3 September | 12 September | 18 | 400 | 3 | 7 |  Morocco (MAR) | [3] |
| 2 | 2027 | Cairo |  Egypt |
Notes:
The sports contested or planned to be contested at the African Para Games are; Para Athletics, Para powerlifting, Para Taekwondo, Wheelchair Tennis, Wheelchair Basketball, Goalball, Sitting Volleyball, Amputee football, and Blind football. [4]
| Number | Event | 2023 | 2027 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Sports | ||||||
| 1 | Wheelchair basketball |  | ||||
| 2 | Amputee football | | ||||
| Racket Sports | ||||||
| 3 | Wheelchair tennis | | ||||
The International Paralympic Committee is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and functions as the international federation for nine sports. Founded on 22 September 1989 in Düsseldorf, West Germany, its mission is to "enable Paralympic athletes to achieve sporting excellence and inspire and excite the world". Furthermore, the IPC aims to promote the Paralympic values and to create sport opportunities for all persons with a disability, from beginner to elite level.
The World Abilitysport Games are a parasports multi-sport event for athletes who use wheelchairs or are amputees. Organized by World Abilitysport, the Games are a successor to the original Stoke Mandeville Games founded in 1948 by Ludwig Guttmann, and the International Stoke Mandeville Games—the first international sporting competition for athletes with disabilities, and the forerunner to the modern Paralympic Games.
The ASEAN Para Games is a biennial multi-sport event held after every Southeast Asian Games involving disabled athletes from the current 11 Southeast Asia countries. Participating athletes have a variety of disabilities ranging from spastic, cerebral palsy, mobility disabilities, visual disabilities, amputated to intellectual disabilities. The ASEAN Para Games is under the regulation of the ASEAN Para Sports Federation (APSF) with supervision by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and the Asian Paralympic Committee and is traditionally hosted by the country where the Southeast Asian Games took place.
The 2016 Summer Paralympics, the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016. The Games marked the first time a Latin American and South American city hosted the event, the second Southern Hemisphere city and nation, the first one being the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney, and also the first time a Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking) country hosted the event. These Games saw the introduction of two new sports to the Paralympic program: canoeing and the paratriathlon.
The Asian Para Games, also known as Para Asiad, is a multi-sport event regulated by the Asian Paralympic Committee that's held every four years after every Asian Games for athletes with physical disabilities. Both events had adopted the strategy used by the Olympic and Paralympic Games of having both games in the same city. However, the exclusion of Asian Para Games from Asian Games host city contract meant that both events ran independently of each other. The Games are recognized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and are described as the second largest multi-sport event after the Paralympic Games.
The 2018 Winter Paralympics, the 12th Paralympic Winter Games, and also more generally known as the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games, were an international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), that was held in Pyeongchang, South Korea, from 9 to 18 March 2018. They were the second Paralympics to be held in South Korea, following the 1988 Summer Paralympics in Seoul.
Wheelchair rugby is a sport with national representation at the Paralympic games. The Australian Team is known as the 'Steelers'.
The 2022 Winter Paralympics, commonly known as Beijing 2022, were an international winter multi-sport parasports event held in Beijing, China from 4 to 13 March 2022. This was the 13th Winter Paralympic Games, as administered by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
The 2024 Summer Paralympics, also known as the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, and commonly known as Paris 2024, is an upcoming international multi-sport parasports event governed by the International Paralympic Committee, to be held in Paris, France, from 28 August to 8 September 2024. These games mark the first time Paris will host the Paralympics in its history and the second time that France will host the Paralympic Games, as Tignes and Albertville jointly hosted the 1992 Winter Paralympics.
The 2019 World Para Athletics Championships was a Paralympic track and field event organised by the World Para Athletics subcommittee of the International Paralympic Committee. It was held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates from 7 to 15 November 2019. It was the 9th edition of the event, formerly known as the IPC Athletics World Championship prior to 2017.
The 2023 Parapan American Games, officially the VII Pan American Games and commonly known as the Santiago 2023 Parapan-Am Games, was an international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities. It celebrated the tradition of the Parapan American Games as governed by the Americas Paralympic Committee and was held from November 17 to 26 in Santiago, Chile.
The 13th African Games hosted in Ghana is being held from 8–23 March 2024. Despite having Accra as the main host city, the games are being held in two sub-host cities: Kumasi and Cape Coast. The games were initially planned to be held in August 2023, however a failure to complete facilities on time and arguments over marketing revenue resulted in the games being delayed to March 2024.
The United States competed at the 2022 Winter Paralympics in Beijing, China which took place between 4–13 March 2022. In total, 65 athletes competed in six sports. It was the second largest delegation at the Games after the host China. Para ice hockey is represented by the most athletes, with 17.
The opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Paralympics took place on 4 March 2022 at the Beijing National Stadium in Beijing, China. The Games were opened by Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and President of China.
Lisa DeJong is a Canadian retired para-snowboarder who competed in the SB-LL2 category. She won Canada's first Winter Paralympic medal at the 2022 Winter Paralympics, and retired on October 10, 2023.
The Paralympic Committee of Kosovo,, is the governing body for parasports in Kosovo. It is a full member of the International Paralympic Committee, granting para-athletes from Kosovo the right to patriciate in the Paralympic Games.
The European Para Championships is a multi-sport event contested by para-athletes from European nations. The championships have been awarded the status of regional games by the European Paralympic Committee and offer qualification opportunities for the Paralympic Games. The Championships are partly analogous with the European Games, taking place a year before the Paralympic Games and endorsed by the EPC, and with the European Championships in that they represent a combination of selected European championships in different sports.
The 2023 African Para Games were the first edition of the African Para Games held between 3 and 12 September 2023 in Accra, Ghana.
Samson Deen is a Ghanaian Hospitality, Communication and Sports Management consultant since 2003 who founded the African Origin Travels and Sports Tourism, AOG Construction Services and African Origin Group of Companies in 2017. He is currently the President of the African Paralympic Committee.
