NEWS RELEASE:Sport for Tomorrow Releases Short Film Highlighting Its Seven-Year Contribution to Parasport
Date: August 24, 2021
Location: Tokyo, JapanSport for Tomorrow (SFT) launched a short film featuring Japanese initiatives toward the achievementof an inclusive society through parasport today to coincide with the opening of the Tokyo 2020
Paralympic Games. Commissioned by the Japan Sports Agency, and produced by the Sport for
Tomorrow Consortium, the film aims to promote the Paralympic movement and human rights
movement for people with disabilities.
The film follows legendary Japanese Paralympian Atsushi Yamamoto, and tells the extraordinary
stories of future para athletes, supported by SFT projects in developing countries, aiming toparticipate in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games for the first time. We see the athletes grow mentallyand develop as individuals through various parasport experiences.
Ken Kahu of Vanuatu became the first Pacific para athlete to pre-qualify on merit. With the supportof the SFT Expansion of Paralympic Participants (NEPP) project implemented by Nippon Sports andScience University (NSSU), not only did he develop as a para athlete, he also felt change within. "WhenI began training, I quickly realised that I loved sport. Sport has provided me with many good
opportunities in life. It has changed my life." Although Vanuatu withdrew from the Tokyo 2020
Paralympic Games due to COVID-19, the President of Vanuatu Paralympic Committee, Margaret
Macfarlane emphasized "The journey to Tokyo has given our para athletes and all those living inVanuatu with an impairment a voice through the powerful platform of inclusive sport to bring about
meaningful change."
Chimi Dema, who will be representing Bhutan as the country’s first female para athlete at the Tokyo
2020 Paralympics Games, also talks about how she has changed since her introduction to parasport.
"The best thing that happened to me through sports is I gained self-confidence, and I would
encourage people with a disability to take up sports." The story of her Paralympic journey is alsoavailable at Paralympic news.
https://www.paralympic.org/feature/bhutan-para-athletes-out-make-history-paralympic-debut
The film also features SFT grassroot activities in schools and communities in developing countries,and inspires people to change the way the world thinks about disability, diversity and human potential.

The outbreak of war in Yemen in 2015 increased the challenges faced by women with disabilities andsaw them lose their basic rights, which led to their becoming completely isolated from society. Amal
Haza’a Ali Munassar, Assistant Secretary General of the Yemen Paralympic Committee demonstrates
the true power of resilience with the establishment of a women's wheelchair basketball team. “Thisprogram has made a good impression on Yemeni society and is also a good start to such programs inthe country. Through the program, we have made great achievements, with the players showing theirability and skills on and off the court.”
https://www.paralympic.org/feature/yemen-battling-all-odds-end-29-year-wait
Efforts by those such as the National Paralympic Committee of Zambia, which provides I’mPOSSIBLE
Paralympic education in schools with the support of the Japanese Paralympic Committee and the IPC,
are spreading not only in Africa, but around the world.
Toward a Vibrant and Symbiotic Society, JICA volunteers, Japanese NGOs and private companies inmany countries support people with disabilities through sports.
###Sport for Tomorrow (SFT) is an international contribution initiative instigated by the Government ofJapan at the IOC Session on the occasion of Tokyo’s bid for the 2020 Summer Olympic and Paralympic
Games. SFT aims to spread sporting values and the Olympic and Paralympic Movement to more than
10 million people in over 100 countries, and has already achieved its goals as of today.
###For more information and requesting archive footage, please contact the Sport for Tomorrow
Consortium:
email: sft.info@jpnsport.go.jp
Video on YouTube:
English Version

https://youtu.be/F-NEvVjCXwQ

Japanese VersionSpanish Version

https://youtu.be/mkBa-sUr9ZE
https://youtu.be/0JAgZdCI84Y