"The bravest team" refugee team finishes all Paralympic competitions

The refugee team, which is made up of athletes who have left their home countries due to conflicts, who are participating in the Tokyo Paralympics, will be joined by canoeists from Syria on the 4th, and the six athletes who have completed all the competitions will have difficulty. I strongly impressed the appearance of confronting.

At the Tokyo Paralympics, a refugee team made up of athletes who have left their home countries due to conflicts has been formed following the previous Rio de Janeiro Games, and six athletes, including men and women, will participate in the four competitions of swimming, track and field, taekwondo, and canoeing. bottom.

On the 4th of the 12th day of the tournament, Syrian-born Anas Al-Harifa (28) participated in the semi-finals of the men's canoeing ver-single.

Al-Harifa, who has escaped from the civil war in his home country and lives in Germany, suffered a spinal cord injury due to a fall accident at work and was incapacitated in the lower body, but he says he found hope in a canoe that he started as a rehabilitation.

Immediately after the start of the race, he was separated from the players of the powerful nations, but he sank with hard paddling and finished 5th in the group with a time of 1 minute 1 second 467.

Although he did not advance to the final, Al Harifa continued to challenge, saying, "When I am devoting myself to sports, I feel as if I have no obstacles. I realize that I can accomplish many things." I'm showing no attitude.

The refugee team has now completed all the competitions in this tournament.

There are approximately 82 million refugees and internally displaced persons in the world, of which it is estimated that approximately 12 million have some disabilities.

Regarding the six refugee teams who did their best in this tournament as representatives of those who are still facing various difficulties, IPC = International Paralympic Committee President Parsons said, "Many players stood in front of me. Despite the difficulties, he has become a top athlete on the Paralympic stage. He is the bravest sports team in the world. "