Paris Paralympics: start today. Italian team in 17 disciplines

The opening ceremony is scheduled for tonight, with competitions starting tomorrow. The Paris 2024 Paralympics will run until September 8. In recent weeks, intensive work has been underway to make all stadiums and sports halls as accessible as possible, removing any potential architectural barriers.

As was the case in Tokyo, the Italian team will once again compete with a record delegation for the XVII Paralympic Games. A total of 141 Italian athletes (71 men and 70 women) will participate in 17 disciplines:

Athletics
Badminton
Canoeing
Rowing
Cycling
Equestrian
Judo
Swimming
Fencing
Sitting Volleyball
Powerlifting
Taekwondo
Wheelchair Tennis
Table Tennis
Shooting
Archery
Triathlon

The Italian flag bearers will be Ambra Sabatini (athletics) and Luca Mazzone (cycling).

Fifty-two athletes are making their debut, roughly 37% of the Italian team. The youngest Italian athlete is Giuliana Chiara Filippi (athletics), born in 2005.

The declared goal is to match or even exceed the 69 medals won three years ago at the Tokyo Paralympics, where Italy finished in ninth place in the medal table.

Athletics: Riccardo Bagaini, Fabio Bottazzini, Martina Caironi, Marco Cicchetti, Monica Contrafatto, Arjola Dedaj, Ndiaga Dieng, Giuliana Chiara Filippi, Alessandro Galbiati (guide), Rigivan Ganeshamoorthy, Assunta Legnante, Alessandro Ossola, Maxcel Amo Manu, Valentina Petrillo, Ambra Sabatini, Oney Tapia.
Badminton: Rosa Efomo De Marco.
Canoeing: Veronica Silvia Biglia, Marius Bogdan Ciustea, Eleonora De Paolis, Amanda Embriaco, Esteban Gabriel Farias, Kwadzo Klokpah, Mirko Nicoli, Christian Volpi.
Rowing: Enrico D'Aniello (coxswain), Carolina Foresti, Marco Frank, Greta Elizabeth Muti, Giacomo Perini, Tommaso Schettino.
Cycling: Katia Aere, Federico Andreoli, Lorenzo Bernard, Fabrizio Cornegliani, Claudia Cretti, Giorgio Farroni, Luca Mazzone, Eleonora Mele, Federico Mestroni, Martino Pini, Davide Plebani (pilot), Francesca Porcellato, Giulia Ruffato, Mirko Testa, Paolo Toto' (pilot), Ana Maria Vitelaru.
Equestrian: Sara Morganti, Francesca Salvadè, Carola Semperboni, Federica Sileoni.
Judo: Dongdong Camanni, Simone Cannizzaro, Carolina Costa, Valerio Romano Teodori, Matilde Lauria.
Swimming: Alberto Amodeo, Simone Barlaam, Luigi Beggiato, Francesco Bettella, Alessia Berra, Vittoria Bianco, Federico Bicelli, Francesco Bocciardo, Monica Boggioni, Vincenzo Boni, Manuel Bortuzzo, Simone Ciulli, Federico Cristiani, Antonio Fantin, Giulia Ghiretti, Carlotta Gilli, Emmanuele Marigliano, Domiziana Mecenate, Riccardo Menciotti, Efrem Morelli, Federico Morlacchi, Xenia Francesca Palazzo, Angela Procida, Martina Rabbolini, Stefano Raimondi, Alessia Scortechini, Arianna Talamona, Giulia Terzi.
Fencing: Matteo Betti, Matteo Dei Rossi, Edoardo Giordan, Emanuele Lambertini, Michele Massa, Andreea Mogos, Gianmarco Paolucci, Rossana Pasquino, Loredana Trigilia, Beatrice Vio Grandis.
Sitting Volleyball: Giulia Aringhieri, Flavia Barigelli, Raffaela Battaglia, Giulia Bellandi, Silvia Biasi, Francesca Bosio, Eva Ceccatelli, Sara Cirelli, Sara Desini, Alessandra Moggio, Roberta Pedrelli, Elisa Spediacci.
Powerlifting: Andrea Maria Quarto, Emanuela Romano, Donato Telesca.
Taekwondo: Antonino Bossolo.
Wheelchair Tennis: Luca Arca.
Table Tennis: Andrea Borgato, Michela Brunelli, Federico Crosara, Federico Falco, Matteo Parenzan, Carlotta Ragazzini, Giada Rossi.
Shooting: Livia Cecagallina, Davide Franceschetti, Gianluca Iacus, Roberto Lazzaro, Andrea Liverani, Pamela Novaglio.
Archery: Matteo Bonacina, Daila Dameno, Veronica Floreno, Elisabetta Mijno, Asia Pellizzari, Giulia Pesci, Eleonora Sarti, Paolo Tonon, Stefano Travisani.
Triathlon: Giovanni Achenza, Anna Barbaro, Charlotte Bonin (guide), Veronica Yoko Plebani, Giuseppe Romele, Francesca Tarantello, Silvia Visaggi (guide), Gianluca Valori.

The first edition of the Summer Paralympic Games took place in Rome in 1960, from September 18 to 25, with 400 athletes from 23 nations. After the Tokyo '64 edition, and until 1984, the Paralympics were held every four years but not in the same location as the Olympic Games. Since Seoul 1988, the Paralympic Games have been held in the same host city as the Olympics, and from that edition, the opening ceremony featured official flag bearers. Italy's first flag bearer was swimmer Stefano Giovannetti, followed four years later in Barcelona by Luca Pancalli, current president of the Italian Paralympic Committee (CIP).

Paris 2024 Schedule: