That’s just good business—and good stewardship. In our recent meeting with the ID Association, Dr. Mohammadi, the secretary, gave a detailed rundown of their work across the various ID sports, making it clear that their primary goal is to grow participation, strengthen grassroots and women’s teams, improve infrastructure, set out a clear plan, and make the most of the broader Paralympic movement’s development programs.
Dr. Mohammadi also laid out their upcoming plans: hosting the national ID athletics championship this September, and sending athletes in athletics, table tennis, and swimming to both the Asian Youth Para Games and the Asian Championships in China. He stressed the need for close cooperation between the ID sports committees and the relevant Paralympic committees to identify and nurture the best talents. That way, we can ensure that sports like athletics, table tennis, and swimming see more participation from individuals with Down syndrome, autism, and intellectual disabilities.
Now, I said in that meeting—and I’ll repeat it here—if we’re going to develop ID sports, we need to be ahead of the curve compared to last year. That means working together, across associations, to identify promising athletes and, after proper classification, bring them into the national team pipeline.
Our main priority for ID sports is to focus on the three disciplines that are present at the Paralympic Games. We need to have strong, talented representatives in these sports at the Paralympic level, so that our country’s delegation can bring home medals in this area as well.
During the meeting, heads of the para table tennis, para swimming, and para athletics associations also shared their perspectives. In the end, it was agreed that, to advance ID sports, the respective committees in para swimming, athletics, and table tennis would coordinate closely with the ID sports association, ensuring that opportunities for athletes in these fields are fully realized.
