Taguchi's role will see her act as a liaison between athletes and the World Shooting Para Sport management team, representing the views, interests and rights of the athletes.

She will serve for a four-year term and the 47-year-old expressed her delight at being appointed to the role.

"I became a wheelchair user with spinal cord disease at the age of 25," she said.

"I began shooting after onset, and by starting shooting, I had a goal.

"And by having a goal, I was able to make efforts and move forward in my life.

"Shooting gave me the power to fight for myself.

"I would like others to know about the wonderful sport that gave me the power to fight for myself, and I would like to attract more people to the sport.

"I will bring the voices of athletes performing at competitions to the officers and management side firmly.

"I would like to devote my efforts to the development of shooting Para-sport through them."

Taguchi will take over the role from New Zealander Michael Johnson, who had some words of advice for his successor.

"I think the best advice I would give to Aki is to just be herself," he said.

"Everyone loves her, and she is so friendly and so nice that I just know she will get on really well with the Sport Technical Committee.

"[During my term], I learned that everyone is so individual, and everyone is so different.

"Everyone's needs are different, so what works for someone might not work for someone else.

"I also learned that the Sport Technical Committee really want us to work with them.

"So there is a good bond with them, and we can help them help us."

Taguchi, who competed at Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012, will combine her new role with her current position as a member of the Athlete Committee of Tokyo 2020.

"At the Tokyo 2020 Games, I would like to make an environment not only for shooting athletes, but also all athletes so that they can realise their potential ability and set their personal bests," she said.

"For that purpose, we, Para-athletes, need to raise our voices.

"As an athlete representative, I hope to make full use of my experience. 

"I would like to focus on improving the environment for all athletes and to improve the environment to protect the athletes' rights on cases of competition relations."