The 2019 ParaPan-Am Games will be held in Lima, Peru from August 23rd to September 1st and will be the biggest ever! It will feature over 1800 athletes from 33 countries. Events will be held in 17 sports: athletics, badminton, boccia, cycling, blind and paralympic football (soccer), goalball, judo, powerlifting, shooting, sitting volleyball, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo and wheelchair basketball, rugby and tennis with 2020 Paralympic qualifying occurring in several sports.

The ParaPan-Am Games, an adaptive counterpart to the Pan-Am Games, were first introduced in Mexico City in 1999 with 1000 athletes from 18 countries competing in only four sports: athletics, swimming, table tennis and wheelchair basketball. With a subsequent increase in participation and awareness of adaptive sports, the ParaPan-Am Games grew in both success and popularity. The 2007 Rio Games were a turning point for Paralympics in the Americas as it was the first time that the ParaPan-Am and the Pan-Am Games were held in the same city with the same organizing committee. The 2015 Games in Toronto were historic with 10 world, 70 Americas and 239 Games records broken! We’re looking forward to seeing these incredible athletes in action over the next two weeks in Lima!

Looking forward to the Games, table tennis and wheelchair tennis have actually already kicked it off with some pre-opening ceremonies preliminary matches. Wheelchair rugby and sitting volleyball will join in tomorrow. Brazil and the United States each picked up a gold and a silver in sitting volleyball at the 2015 Games while hosts Canada looks to defend their wheelchair rugby title. Saturday, August 24th will be the first full day of competition with ten of the 17 sports in action. 2019 will also introduce three sports: shooting (Aug 23-31), badminton (Aug 29-Sep 1), and taekwondo (Aug 30-31). Head to the official Lima 2019 website for the full schedule and follow along with us here at athletesroll.com and @athletesroll on social media!