Six sports and three disciplines confirmed as bidding for Tokyo 2020 Paralympics inclusion

By Nick Butler

January 22 - Adapted versions of badminton, taekwondo and hockey are among the six sports battling for inclusion at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, it was announced today.

Badminton, taekwondo and powerchair football will all bid again after unsuccessful attempts to be added to the Rio 2016 programme, while electric wheelchair hockey, amputee football, and intellectually impaired basketball will also seek inclusion.

Following its success in able-bodied events, a 3x3 wheelchair basketball event has also been proposed as one of three new disciplines along with blind match racing and one person multi-hull sailing events.

New disciplines in sailing and wheelchair basketball will also be considered ©Getty Images

The 12-month process got underway last November when the IPC announced that new and existing sports could each "express an interest" in adding new events to the programme with a deadline of January 17.

Following today's confirmation, the next step will come at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Governing Board meeting in Sochi during the Winter Games in March, where measures will be taken to ensure that all the sports and disciplines meet the "minimum criteria" for inclusion.

Those that do will progress to the second phase of the application process.

The 22 established sports on the Paralympic programme, plus those additional sports and disciplines that have been approved by the Governing Board, will be invited to complete a comprehensive questionnaire due for completion in July.

A final decision as to which new sports and disciplines are added will be made by the IPC Governing Board in the autumn.

The process is set to continue the rapid growth from the inaugural Paralympic Games in Rome in 1960 - where 23 countries competed across eight sports - to the 164 countries and 20 sports on the programme at London 2012.

The addition of triathlon and canoeing will bring the total to 22 sports at Rio 2016.

The potential sports will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of the Para-triathlon competition to be held at Rio 2016 ©Getty Images

Xavier Gonzalez, chief executive of the IPC, believes that "the high number of applicants highlights the health of Para-sport and growth of the Paralympic Movement."

"I would like to thank the nine sports and disciplines for applying to be part of the Tokyo 2020 Games," he added.

"In 2020 we want the sport programme to feature the best sports possible in terms of athletes, Paralympic values, quality of global competition, reach, gender balance and impairments catered for, as well as appeal to spectators, media and broadcasters.

"The IPC management team will now review each application before the Governing Board meets in early March before a final decision is taken in November."