Paralympic Games open in carnival atmosphere

By Azernews

By Amina Nazarli

With the sound of samba, plenty of fun, color and fireworks long-awaited Rio’s Paralympic finally opened on Wednesday evening.

The opening ceremony of the 15th Summer Paralympic Games took place in a carnival atmosphere and the cheers of tens of thousands of Brazilians inside the Maracana stadium.

Some 528 sets of medals in 22 sports will be played at Rio's Paralympic including triathlon and parakanoe which were for the first time included in the program. The competition brings together over 4,300 athletes from more than 160 countries, including two athletes refugee under the flag of IPC.

The opening ceremony began with American Aaron "Wheelz" Fotheringham, in a wheelchair, jumping from a massive ramp from the Maracana stands and performing a back flip through a giant ring.

The Brazilian national anthem was played on the piano by Carlos Martin, whose right hand is severely disabled, before the parade of athletes, with the loudest cheer of the night reserved for competitors from the host nation.

First of all, Independent Paralympic Athletes Team entered the arena.

Two-time judo Paralympic champion, winner of Baku-2015 European Games Ilham Zakiyev carried Azerbaijan's tricolor during the parade in the opening ceremony.

The parade of the athletes was ended with marching of Brazilian Paralympic team.  After the speeches, Brazilian President Michel Temer announced the opening of 15th Summer Paralympic Games.

Azerbaijan will be represented by 24 athletes in the Summer Paralympic Games, which will last until September 18.

Six female paralympians will compete in judo, athletics, powerlifting, swimming, bullet shooting and archery. In total, the country's paralympians got 41 licenses, which is more compared to London 2012 Paralympics.

Azerbaijan made its Paralympic Games debut at the 1996 Summer Paralympics in Atlanta, with a two-man delegation to compete in track and field and powerlifting. To date, Azerbaijan has participated in five Summer Paralympic Games.

So far, Azerbaijani athletes have won a total of 27 Paralympic medals, eight of which are gold, ten are silver and nine are bronze.  At the 2012 Summer Paralympics, Azerbaijani Paralympic team set a record bringing home a total of 12 medals, four of which were gold.

In total, Azerbaijani paralympians have won 161 medals (64 gold, 57 silver and 40 bronze) over the last four years.