Just under 160 countries and regions will participate in the Tokyo Paralympic Games, according to Craig Spence, director of media and communications for the International Paralympic Committee.
Spence said Saturday in Tokyo that the number was expected to be 158 or 159, short of the record-high 164 countries and regions that participated in the London 2012 Paralympics.
In addition to Afghanistan, where the domestic situation is increasingly fraught, four countries in the South Pacific, including Samoa and Tonga, have decided not to participate due to the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games has also announced the concepts for the opening and closing ceremonies. The opening ceremony will be centered on the theme We Have Wings, spreading one's wings courageously in the face of adversity, while the closing ceremony's theme will be Harmonious Cacophony, or new harmony born out of a potentially discordant situation.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
