Badminton has been included in the programme for the Lima 2019 Parapan American Games for the first time since the inception of the event in 1999.

The Parapan American Games is a multi-sport event held every four years, after every Pan American Games, for athletes with physical disabilities.

Badminton will be among 17 sports seen in Lima. A record 1,850 athletes will participate – a leap from 1,600 in the last edition in Toronto 2015.

The announcement was made following a three-day meeting (28 February-1 March) in the Peruvian capital between the Americas Paralympic Committee (APC) and Lima 2019 Organising Committee (COPAL). The 17 sports that will make up the Lima 2019 Parapan American Games sport programme are: athletics, badminton, boccia, cycling, football 5-a-side, football 7-a-side, goalball, judo, powerlifting, shooting, sitting volleyball, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby and wheelchair tennis.  Archery has been removed from the sports programme, whilst badminton, shooting and taekwondo all feature for the first time in the Games which will take place at the end of August 2019.

APC President Jose Luis Campo hailed the inclusion of badminton and taekwondo in the programme: “Following their inclusion in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, both badminton and taekwondo will feature for the first time at a Parapan American Games alongside shooting.  We believe the sports programme for Lima 2019 features an exciting mixture of mass participation sports from the Americas.

“This agreement is a significant milestone in the growth of the Paralympic Movement in the Americas as it means Lima will stage the biggest-ever Parapan American Games in 2019 with 250 athletes and two sports more than Toronto 2015.”

“Following the success of the Toronto 2015 Games and this September’s Rio 2016 Paralympic Games it is vital that the Paralympic Movement continues to move forward in the Americas. This agreement will go some way to achieving this.”

The Parapan American Games took off in November 1999 in Mexico City with 1,000 athletes competing in four sports. The Toronto 2015 Parapan American Games, held in August 2015, featured 1,600 athletes from 28 countries who competed in 15 sports.

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Featured image: Pedro De Vinatea (SL3 class) of Peru