Headline: Paralympic ticket lottery to open Aug. 22
The Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games has announced that applications for the first Paralympic ticket lottery for the domestic market will be accepted starting Aug. 22.
Detailed schedules for all 22 sports and other events have been decided. The opening ceremony is to begin at 8 p.m. on Aug. 25, the same time as the Olympic opening ceremony.
Events are to begin the following day, with the first medal to be awarded for women's track cycling for athletes with impairments to all four limbs, in the 3,000-meter pursuit race.
Finals for 63 events are to be held Aug. 30, the first Sunday of the Games. This is the most in a single day and includes the final for wheelchair rugby, which team Japan is expected to do well in.
The final for wheelchair men's singles tennis, which could feature gold medal candidate Shingo Kunieda of Uniqlo Co., is scheduled for Sept. 5.
In consideration of the heat, start times for the marathon and some other events were moved to earlier in the day.
The tournament is to feature 540 competitions in 22 sports, including badminton and taekwondo for the first time. A record of about 4,400 athletes are expected to participate, according to the organizing committee.
As with the Olympics, applications can be submitted via an official ticket sales website. Applications will be accepted until Sept. 9, with the lottery results to be announced Oct. 2.
Ticket prices are generally lower than for the Olympics. The most expensive tickets are for wheelchair basketball and swimming at 7,000, yen and the cheapest are priced at 900 yen for events such as canoe and rowing. The most expensive ticket for the opening ceremony is 150,000 yen and 90,000 yen for the closing ceremony.
The official website, which is scheduled to launch Aug. 22, can be found at https://ticket.tokyo2020.org/paralympic.
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