The Asian Paralympic Committee (APC) today announced the first ever Athletes’ Forum for Asian para-athletes. The virtual event will take place over two days, 2nd and 3rd December 2020, and is timed to coincide with the International Day of People with Disabilities which falls on the closing day.
Athlete representatives from all of the 44 Asian National Paralympic Committees will be invited to participate and discuss topics covering a wide range of areas including information on future Games, increasing female participation in sports and preparing for a career post competing.
APC President Majid Rashed commented: "We have a clear vision to make for an inclusive Asia through para-sport and it is the athletes acting as role models who will drive this. We put them at the heart of our activity and therefore I’m delighted to announce the first ever Athlete Forum for our region. This will help our athletes be informed about key issues that can help them in their sporting careers and afterwards but also crucially it gives them a platform to share their views which will help us in our future decision making."
A number of expert speakers will take part to lead on the various topics and the APC Athletes’ Committee Chair Jeong Min-Lee (KOR) will act as a moderator supported by the other members of the Athletes’ Committee.
He spoke of his excitement at the upcoming event: "Since being elected, along with my fellow committee members, I have been working hard to connect athletes from across our region. Asia has some of the most sophisticated NPCs with proven track records of helping athletes to achieve success but also we have some of the most under-resourced NPCs which are much earlier in their stage of development. All athletes though share a common goal, to be the best that they can be and to support others to follow in their footsteps. So I’m really excited that we have this forum to connect us all, share our experiences and learn from one another."
The Forum is being supported by the Korea Paralympic Committee who, prior to the Covid-19 Pandemic had offered to host the meeting in Korea.
Their President, Lee Myung-ho said: "Throughout my career as a para athlete and sport administrator, there has been one major mission – making athletes’ voice more effective in the governance of the Paralympic Movement. So, personally, what is more exciting about the Asian Paralympic Committee Athletes’ Forum 2020 is that this will be a great opportunity to actualize my lifelong mission at a much broader scale. This forum will become another communication channel for athletes to exchange their views and for APC to ensure that the athletes’ voice is heard. I am more than delighted that KPC will play a part in the first ever online APC Athletes’ Forum and hoping that this will lead us to a whole new phase in our region."
Registrations will open on 23rd September and speakers will be announced shortly.
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