A total of 1890 Para athletes from 33 countries will compete between August 23 and September 1 in the Parapan American Games, exactly 200 days from today as the Lima 2019 Organizing Committee recalled today.
It will be the largest Para sports event in America’s history, as competitors will participate in 17 Para sports, including Para badminton, shooting Para sport and Para taekwondo which will make their debuts in this events.
“The Parapan American Village is being built in Villa El Salvador. We are building 1096 apartments there, 330 of them for people with impairment. Each apartment has three bedrooms, a living/dining room, a kitchen and an accessible bathroom. In fact, the entire building is wheelchair-accessible. The Games are taking into account accessibility issues. We have never built that way before in the country,” claimed the Lima 2019 President Carlos Neuhaus Tudela.
Neuhaus acknowledged that the Parapan American Games will have a huge impact on society, highlighting the legacy that it will leave society (relationships with people with impairment), infrastructure (new sports centers, accessible infrastructure, best-practice standards, accessibility guides and signage), and sports, where excellent results are expected.
Lima 2019 will have the largest delegation in all its history at a Parapan American Games. The President of the National Paralympic Association of Peru (ANPPERU) Lucha Villar said the Peruvian delegation will have 120 Para athletes.
Among them, shooter Jorge Arcela who las week was named top Para athlete of 2018, as well as Para badminton player and Lima 2019 Ambassador Pilar Jáuregui, and Para athletes Carlos Felipa and Jesús Castillo, among others.
THE STAGES
The Parapan American Games will have four large competition stages. The National Sports Village (VIDENA) will host Para athletics, Para swimming, wheelchair basketball, Para powerlifting, Para judo, Para badminton, Para table tennis and Para cycling track.
The Callao Regional Village will host sitting volleyball, goalball and Para taekwondo events. Football 5-a-side and football 7-a-side, and boccia and wheelchair rugby will be held in Villa María del Triunfo and Villa El Salvador, respectively. Also, Para cycling road, shooting Para sport and wheelchair tennis will take place in Costa Verde, Las Palmas Shooting Range and Lawn Tennis Club, respectively.