What is the Refugee Paralympic Team? Who will compete at Tokyo 2021 and in what sports

The Refugee Paralympic Team will compete for the first time at the Games

Syrian swimmer Ibrahim Al Hussein is one of six athletes in the Refugee Paralympic Team (Getty Images)

The International Olympic Committee announced in October 2018 that, for the first time in the event’s history, a team of refugees was to be set up for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The Paralympic team will consists of six athletes from a variety of countries, with the individuals competing in athletics, swimming, canoeing and taekwondo.

The athletes in the Refugee Olympic Team are (country of origin in brackets): Ibrahim Al Hussein (Syria), Alia Issa (Syria), Parfait Hakizimana (Burundi), Abbas Karimi (Afghanistan), Anas Al Khalifa (Syria) and Shahrad Nasajpour (Iran).

Al Hussein and Nasajpour are the only two athletes in the refugee team that have previously competed at the Paralympics as they took part at Rio 2016.

Back in July, IOC President Thomas Bach spoke about both the Olympic and Paralympic refugee teams competing in Tokyo.

He said: “The Refugee Olympic Team sends a great signal about what an enrichment refugees are for our Olympic community and for society at large. Watching them compete is a great moment for all of us, and we hope everyone will join.

“The athletes are welcome in our Olympic community, among their fellow athletes – competing with them but also living with them together under one roof.

“This will be a symbol of hope for all refugees in the world, and will make the world better aware of the magnitude of this crisis. It is also a signal to the international community that refugees are our fellow human beings and are an enrichment to society.”

Following the conclusion of the Olympic Games, the Paralympics gets underway on August 24 and will run for 12 days until September 5.