Parasports are sports played by people with a disability, including physical and intellectual disabilities. Some parasports are forms of adapted physical activities from existing non-disabled sports, while others have been specifically created for persons with a disability and do not have a non-disabled equivalent. Disability exists in four categories: physical, mental, permanent and temporary. At a competitive level, disability sport classifications are applied to allow people of varying abilities to face similar opposition.
The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the Games of the Paralympiad, is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, are held almost immediately following the respective Olympic Games. All Paralympic Games are governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
The Paralympic sports comprise all the sports contested in the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games. As of 2020, the Summer Paralympics included 22 sports and 539 medal events, and the Winter Paralympics include 5 sports and disciplines and about 80 events. The number and kinds of events may change from one Paralympic Games to another.
Para-athletics is the sport of athletics practiced by people with a disability as a parasport. The athletics events within the parasport are mostly the same as those available to able-bodied people, with two major exceptions in wheelchair racing and the club throw, which are specific to the division. The sport is known by various names, including disability athletics, disabled track and field and Paralympic athletics. Top-level competitors may be called elite athletes with disability.
The Canadian Paralympic Committee is the private, non-profit organization representing Canadian Paralympic athletes in the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and the Parapan American Games. It represents 25 member sports organisations.
The Asian Paralympic Committee is an organization based in United Arab Emirates. It has 45 National Paralympic Committees of the Asian continent as members. It organizes the Asian Para Games and is affiliated to the International Paralympic Committee.
T20 is a disability sport classification for disability athletics in track and jump events. It broadly covers athletes with intellectual disabilities.
Disability sports classification is a system that allows for fair competition between people with different types of disabilities.
In 1992, Spain had competitors in archery, wheelchair basketball, swimming, weightlifting, shooting, boccia, cycling, fencing, judo, tennis, 7-per-side football, table tennis and athletics.
The World Para Athletics European Championships, known prior to 2018 as the IPC Athletics European Championships is an event organized by World Para Athletics, the international athletics federation established under the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in 2016. Athletes with a physical disability compete, and there is also a specific category for athletes with an intellectual disability. Organised biennially, the original Games ran from 2003 to 2005 as an Open Championship but the event was frozen in 2005, but returned in 2012 in Stadskanaal, Netherlands.
CP6 is a disability sport classification specific to cerebral palsy. In many sports, it is grouped inside other classifications to allow people with cerebral palsy to compete against people with other different disabilities but the same level of functionality. Sportspeople in this class are ambulatory, and able to walk without the use of an assistive device. Their bodies are constantly in motion. The running form of people in this class is often better than their form while walking.
Cerebral palsy sport classification is a classification system used by sports that include people with cerebral palsy (CP) with different degrees of severity to compete fairly against each other and against others with different types of disabilities. In general, Cerebral Palsy-International Sports and Recreation Association (CP-ISRA) serves as the body in charge of classification for cerebral palsy sport, though some sports have their own classification systems which apply to CP sportspeople.
Intellectual disability sport classification is a classification system used for disability sport that allows people with intellectual disabilities to fairly compete with and against other people with intellectual disabilities. Separate classification systems exist for the elite athlete with a disability side affiliated with the Paralympic movement and Virtus, and the sports for all model affiliated with Special Olympics. People with intellectual disabilities have issues with conceptual skills, social skills and practical skills. They have IQs of 75 points or lower, limitations in adaptive behaviour and their disability manifested and was documented prior to turning 18 years of age.
Cameroonian Federation of Sports the Intellectually Disabled (FECASDI) (French: Federation Camerounaise Des Sports Pour Deficients Intellectuals(Fecasdi)) is the national sports federation for sportspeople with intellectual disabilities competing in International Sports Federation for Persons with Intellectual Disability (INAS) and Paralympic events. They organize national ID sports championships. The federation was recognized by law in 2010, and then became a member of the Cameroonian Paralympic Committee in 2011. FECASDI has tried to get its sportspeople qualified for the 2012 Summer Paralympics. They have also hosted several conferences.
The IBSA World Games or World Blind Games are an international multi-sport event, occurring every four years, organized by the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA). The events enable blind and partially sighted athletes to compete in a number of sports. The first event took place at Madrid, Spain in 1998.
The 2019 European Masters Games is the fourth edition of the multi-sport event for masters sport, scheduled to take place between 26 July – 4 August 2019 in Turin in Italy. It featured 28 sports, mostly for people aged 35 and above, although some disciplines will allow younger athletes to participate.
Israel competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo from 24 August to 5 September 2021. The delegation includes 33 athletes – 18 women and 15 men – competing in 11 sports: athletics, badminton, boccia, goalball, paracanoeing, powerlifting, rowing, shooting, swimming, table tennis, and wheelchair tennis.
The INAS Global Games is a quadrennial global, international multi-sport event organised by the International Sports Federation for Persons with Intellectual Disability (INAS). First organised in 2004, it is intended for elite competition in disability sports for athletes with intellectual disability and, since 2017, autism and down syndrome. It is the largest sporting event of its type. Athletes must have received classification from INAS to compete.
INAS World Swimming Championships are a quadrennial international swimming competition organised by International Sports Federation for Persons with Intellectual Disability for athletes who have an intellectual impairment and swim in the S14 swimming category in Paralympic swimming.
Tang Wai-lok is a Hong Kong Paralympic swimmer, he classifies as a class S14 Paraswimmer.
