Five athletes to watch at the Tokyo Paralympics

THE Tokyo Paralympics are underway after a year’s pandemic delay.

Here, AFP Sport picks out five athletes hoping to make an impact: Markus Rehm (GER)

Known as the “Blade Jumper”, threetime Paralympic champion Rehm is aiming to push the boundaries even further after demolishing the T64 long jump world record in June.

The German, who turned 33 on Sunday, leapt 8.62m at the European Championships in Poland - beating the previous record by a full 14cm. That jump would have been enough to win gold at every Olympics since 1992, and was only 33cm short of Mike Powell’s non-disabled world record. Beatrice Vio (ITA)

Wheelchair fencer Vio is a sporting icon in her native Italy.

The 24-year-old, known as “Bebe”, started fencing at the age of five, but had both legs and forearms amputated when she contracted meningitis as an 11-year-old. She turned her attention to wheelchair fencing - becoming the first competitive fencer with no arms or legs - and claimed a gold and a bronze at the 2016 Rio Paralympics. Tatyana Mcfadden (USA) Wheelchair race legend Mcfadden already has 17 Paralympic medals to her name.

Mcfadden, who was born in Russia and raised in an orphanage until she was adopted at the age of six, also competed in cross-country skiing at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. Shingo Kunieda (JPN)

World No 1 Kunieda is one of wheelchair tennis’ most decorated players, and a household name in his native Japan.

Diagnosed with a spinal cord tumour when he was nine, he has gone on to win three Paralympic golds and two bronzes, as well as bagging over 100 career titles - singles and doubles combined.

Husnah Kukundakwe (UGA) Swimmer Kukundakwe could become one of the faces of the Tokyo Paralympics when she competes aged just 14.

Kukundakwe, who was born without her right forearm and also has an impairment to her left hand, is aiming to change attitudes in Uganda, where she says people with disabilities are “not considered normal”.