By Nick Butler at The Hilton in Buenos Aires

Tokyo 2020 celebrationsSeptember 7 - The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has added its congratulations to Tokyo after the Japanese city won the race here to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games.


Tokyo led the way in both rounds of voting and won the final round against Istanbul by 60 votes to 36 after third contender Madrid had been eliminated at the opening stage.

The IPC were delighted with this result and its President Sir Philip Craven - who as an IOC member was among those who had a vote  - described Tokyo 2020 as having "the potential to take the Paralympic movement to new levels."

"Tokyo staged the second ever Paralympic Games in 1964 when the movement was still in its infancy," he said.

"It will be brilliant for us to go back in 2020 now that the Games have grown up and matured into the world's third biggest sporting event.

"The 2020 Paralympics will send a strong message of inclusion not just to Japan but to the rest of Asia building on previous successful Games in the continent.

"On behalf of the whole Paralympic Movement I would like to congratulate the Bid Committee of Tokyo on their success in winning the right to stage the 2020 Games."

Tokyo 2020 will aim to build upon the success of the 1964 Paralympic Games in the same cityTokyo 2020 will aim to build upon the success of the second ever Paralympic Games which was held in Tokyo in 1964

After an Opening Ceremony attended by 5,000 people, the Tokyo 1964 Paralympics Games featured 375 athletes from 21 countries competing in nine sports.

These were archery, athletics, dartchery, snooker, swimming, table tennis, weightlifting, wheelchair basketball and wheelchair fencing.

The United States topped the medals table on that occasion with 123 medals of which 50 were gold and hopes are high that the 2020 Games will be similarly successful 56 years later

Sir Philip added that he "looks forward to working with them hand-in-hand with Tokyo over the coming seven years to deliver a superb Games in 2020."

"London 2012 raised the bar last year in terms of delivering the best ever Paralympics and we are confident that both Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 can raise the bar even higher in coming years," he said. 

Over 4,000 athletes from 164 countries participated at the London Games in 2012 and expectations are that this number will have risen further by 2020.

The Paralympics formed an integral part of Tokyo's 2020 bid.

This included the presence here in the final stages of campaigning process of swimming sensation Mayumi Narita, winner of a staggering 15 gold medals at the Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Games.

Mayumi Narita won 15 Paralympic gold medal including this on in Sydney and has helped promote Tokyos 2020 bidMayumi Narita won 15 Paralympic gold medal including this on in Sydney and has helped promote Tokyo's 2020 bid


Endorsements for Tokyo's triumph were added to by the Mayor of London Boris Johnson who offered "huge congratulations to Tokyo for winning the honour of hosting the greatest sporting spectacular on the planet".

Johnson, who was today presented with the Paralympic order for his contributions to the London Games last year, is confident that Tokyo 2020 will be similarly successful.

"I am sure that, like London, this great city will put on an extraordinary event," he said.

"This is a magical moment of celebration to savour before the years of hard work ahead."

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