Para athletics and Para swimming are currently two of the nine sports that are part of the IPC’s World Para Sports group.

That means the IPC, which is based in Bonn in Germany, acts as their International Federation.

However, this could change on December 12 if the IPC membership votes in favour of the Governance Review Proposal at the IPC General Assembly.

The review was published in October 2019, and includes plans for the World Para Sports to become independent from the IPC by 2026.

It was agreed at the IPC Governing Board meeting in April that the bidding process to become the new governing bodies of Para athletics and Para swimming would begin in 2022 should the proposal be approved.

However, the IPC is to run virtual sessions offering more information about how the process will work later this year, and has now asked potential bidders - including cities, Governments and sport organisations, to express their interest.

"The call for expressions of interest is the continuation of a process initiated at the 2019 IPC General Assembly in Bonn," IPC President Andrew Parsons explained.

"This means that cities, governments, or any organisation interested in becoming the home of Para athletics and Para swimming now can contact the IPC in order to express their interest and search for more information.

"This also means that, in case the next General Assembly approves the governance reform proposals published two years ago, we will launch the bidding process in early 2022."

Para athletics and Para swimming are the two biggest sports at the Paralympic Games.

Medals will be available in 167 Para athletics events at the Tokyo Games, which start on August 24, and will involve 1,100 athletes.

Para swimming will feature 620 athletes across 146 medal events.