The refugee team players who will participate in the Tokyo Paralympics, which will start on the 24th, met and expressed their desire to spread their understanding of the refugee issue through the tournament.
At the Tokyo Paralympics, a refugee team made up of athletes who have left their home countries due to conflicts, etc. was formed following the previous Rio de Janeiro Games, and six athletes, including men and women, participated in four competitions: swimming, track and field, taekwondo, and canoeing. I am planning to participate.
Three athletes participated in a press conference held in Tokyo on the 23rd, of which Ibrahim Al Hussein, a swimmer from Syria who lost a part of his right leg in the civil war, said, "From the refugee issue. We would like to send it out with six people so that many people will know about it. "
According to the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), there are approximately 82 million refugees and internally displaced persons in the world, of which approximately 12 million have some disabilities, and Al Hussein said. "I want to show those people a performance that gives them the power to move forward," he said with enthusiasm.
In addition, at the meeting, the cheering messages written by the children in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, which is the host town of the refugee team, were read aloud, and the players seemed to be looking forward to the exchange during the tournament. bottom.