PARALYMPIC AND PARA SPORTS NEWS
Ukrainian Paralympic team and Olympian Kai Verbij announced as The Visa Award winners
• The Visa Award winners from the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 – Dutch speed skater Kai Verbij and the Ukrainian Paralympic team – have selected UNICEF Netherlands and the National Sports Committee for the Disabled of Ukraine as their respective charities for a USD 50,000 donation to each from Visa
![Image of a female dancer in her wheelchair](/sites/default/files/styles/image_crop_16_9_800_450/public/2022-06/Photo%20OK.jpg?h=9dde987a&itok=JxykIlwX)
Dancers back at their best in competition in Poland
Israel starts the international season by topping the medals table at the Polish Open 2022
Tokyo 2020 announces its financial results
Final expenditures for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games were less than the first version of the budget announced in December 2016 despite additional costs related to the event's postponement
![Chinese female Para powerlifter screams in celebration after a successful lift.](/sites/default/files/styles/image_crop_16_9_800_450/public/2022-06/Pyeongtaek%202022%20Asian%20Oceania%20Open%20Championships%20China.jpg?h=1560d804&itok=fo4WyLYR)
Pyeongtaek 2022: Chinese women seal championships triumph with golden roar
Chinese female athletes wrap up 2022 Asian Oceania Open Championships with dominant performance while Iran shines in men's individual events
![Abbas Karimi for World Refugee Day](/sites/default/files/styles/video_crop_16_9/public/oembed_thumbnails/MyhtK-htSDYwTtG8hGtE8Z4lCbIbFe9sv0QqM_e39hs.jpg?itok=Tjwmh6fL)
Former refugee, Para swimmer Karimi sends powerful message on World Refugee Day
Abbas Karimi: 'My message to the displaced people around the world is to not give up on themselves. Never be hopeless. Be always hopeful, set goals and achieve them no matter where you are or what situation you’re in'
![Three men standing on a podium with their medals](/sites/default/files/styles/image_crop_16_9_800_450/public/2022-06/GettyImages-1241388158.jpg?h=a7f0d4d9&itok=ST7RWBJN)
Madeira 2022: Italy reaches 27 golds to top medals table again
USA's Leanne Smith takes two victories on day seven to finish as most successful athlete at the World Championships in Portugal
![A female swimmer smiling from inside a competition pool](/sites/default/files/styles/image_crop_16_9_800_450/public/2022-06/GettyImages-1403304860.jpg?h=2bc4dd6b&itok=luXq_NIQ)
Madeira 2022: Special Friday feeling for Barlaam and Santiago
Brazilian picks sixth triumph and Italian breaks his second world record at the World Championships with Ukraine claiming five golds in 50 minutes
![female Para dancer Tomer Margalit hugging her twin](/sites/default/files/styles/image_crop_16_9_800_450/public/images/181115165014146_tomer-margalit.jpg?h=e7f8e459&itok=qxVVI7_1)
Lomianki hosts world's best and newcomers at Polish Open 2022
Traditional event in Poland kicks off this year's World Para Dance Sport season with 52 athletes from 11 nations
![A female Para powerlifter lifting the bar](/sites/default/files/styles/image_crop_16_9_800_450/public/2022-06/52152071401_d6768f691e_c.jpg?itok=FvqPfWSB)
Pyeongtaek 2022: China makes gold sweep in women's events
Samaneh Hoda Aghghaleh becomes first Iranian female powerlifter to compete in a World Para Powerlifting championships
![Six Para sailors race in the singles competition at Sydney 2000.](/sites/default/files/styles/image_crop_16_9_800_450/public/2022-06/Para%20sailing%20Sydney%202000.jpg?h=ff44b102&itok=q22qr15T)
First Under-25 Para Sailing World Championship to take place in 2023
Braassemermeer, the Netherlands will host the inaugural event, originally scheduled to take place from 19-22 July 2022
![Jamaica's Alphanso Cunningham holds up his gold medal in the men's javelin throw F52/53 and waves with his other hand while posing for photos on the London 2012 podium.](/sites/default/files/styles/image_crop_16_9_800_450/public/2022-06/Alphanso%20Cunningham%20medal%20London%202012.jpg?h=227d88c7&itok=Qd-8BGUk)
Jamaica’s Paralympic champion Cunningham reinvents into master of multiple sports
Double Paralympic athletics champion still smiling, still competing and still winning… in three new sports
![A male swimmer kissing his hand in a pool](/sites/default/files/styles/image_crop_16_9_800_450/public/2022-06/GettyImages-1403299235.jpg?itok=7sj1gFhC)
Madeira 2022: Dadaon pulls plot twist on day of world records
Men's 50m freestyle S4 sees two records in one day on Thursday while Brazil's Santiago and USA's Smith take their fifth World Championships gold
![A female swimmer in a black cap swimming butterfly](/sites/default/files/styles/image_crop_16_9_800_450/public/2022-06/ANASTASIA%202.jpg?h=19ff5e49&itok=By8WwY0u)
Madeira 2022: Pagonis repeats Tokyo with debut gold
US star wins her first ever World Championships race while Italy's Simone Barlaam breaks his own record helping Italy to reach 16 golds in four days
![Santiago 2023 representatives pose for a group photo after announcing the Games venues.](/sites/default/files/styles/image_crop_16_9_800_450/public/2022-06/Santiago%202023%20venues%20announcement.jpg?h=50d8e811&itok=EffkRC3G)
Santiago 2023 officially confirms sports venues
• The next Pan American and Parapan American Games will be held in four regions, 19 communities and 41 sports venues
![Manasi Joshi for It Starts With Sport series](/sites/default/files/styles/video_crop_16_9/public/oembed_thumbnails/Jkp6HlAzbreFFnzz7BSYD763t7ASVUUSxN1Evl9TMrc.jpg?itok=0lHz7sbD)
Para badminton world champion Manasi Joshi on living life without limits
‘I wish every person with a disability gets the benefit of sport, like it has given me'
![Robyn Lambird smiles as she holds up her bronze medal during a medal ceremony at Tokyo 2020.](/sites/default/files/styles/image_crop_16_9_800_450/public/2022-06/Robyn%20Lambird%20Australia%20Tokyo%202020%20bronze.jpg?h=55c171c3&itok=KXpCRcFf)
Pride Month: Robyn Lambird on making history and being in the spotlight
‘It’s only now, reflecting back, I can see the importance of telling my story and being visible in order to open the sport up to more people’
![A female athlete swimming backstroke in a pool](/sites/default/files/styles/image_crop_16_9_800_450/public/2022-06/GettyImages-1402916471.jpg?itok=JB0_nQsf)
Madeira 2022: Award winner Pin Xiu defends world title on day three
Spain's Marta Fernandez takes two golds in less than one hour and former refugee athlete Abbas Karimi helps Team USA to break relay world record
![Two women swimming breaststroke in a pool](/sites/default/files/styles/image_crop_16_9_800_450/public/2022-06/GettyImages-1337585132.jpg?itok=I6Skp98d)
Swans and World Para Swimming extend partnership until 2024
Madeira 2022 is the third World Championships since the partnership between Swans and World Para Swimming began in September 2017
![Three men with disabilities on a podium with their medals](/sites/default/files/styles/image_crop_16_9_800_450/public/2022-06/52144536873_5e48345522_c.jpg?h=0f8e0fad&itok=K03oQNC6)
Madeira 2022: Brazil's new star Oliveira wins two golds in one day
Sixteen-year-old continues Daniel Dias' legacy in the S5 class on a Monday with two world records and four USA victories in Funchal