The 11th National Paralympic Games and the 8th Special Olympics opened yesterday

Zhejiang DailyXi’an, October 22, light up dreams and set sail for love. On the evening of October 22, the opening ceremony of the 11th Paralympic Games of the People’s Republic of China and the 8th Special Olympic Games (hereinafter referred to as “National Paralympics”) was held in Xi’an, Shaanxi.

This year’s National Paralympic Games has a total of 43 major events and 47 sub-items, of which 38 are in the Paralympic Games and 9 are in the Special Olympics. Zhejiang sent more than 300 disabled athletes to participate this time, including the Tokyo Paralympic athletes who returned with honour not long ago, and many newcomers who set foot on the national arena for the first time. Among them, the youngest athlete Zheng Zimo was born in September 2009.

Swimming is the traditional advantage of the Zhejiang team. Zhejiang sent 23 swimmers to participate this time, and it is the province with the most participating swimmers except for the host Shaanxi. In the preliminaries of the swimming competition held on the morning of the opening ceremony, all 12 Zhejiang athletes entered the finals and look forward to their next performance.

In addition, the Zhejiang team has always performed well in collective events such as goalball for the blind, basketball for the deaf, and sitting volleyball. Among them, the blind men’s and women’s goalball team and the deaf women’s basketball team have achieved three consecutive championships in the National Paralympic Games.

“Our athletes have all worked hard to achieve excellent results in the competition, win glory for their hometown, and add luster to their lives.” said Ding Jianhua, director of the Provincial Disabled Culture and Sports Guidance Center.

It is understood that Zhejiang disabled athletes have repeatedly achieved good results in some early competition events, demonstrating Zhejiang disabled people’s spirit of self-improvement, hard work and enterprising spirit.