Sharjah 24 – WAM: The UAE is taking part in the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS) World Games 2022 which got underway in Vila Real de Santo Antonio, Portugal, from Friday (25 November), featuring nearly 500 of the world’s best and up-and-coming Para athletes with physical impairments.

The IWAS World Games is a biennial event featuring multiple sports, aiming to give aspiring athletes with physical impairments their first taste of international competition and older athletes the chance to continue competing.The IWAS World Games encapsulates the IWAS motto of Unity, Friendship and Sportsmanship and demonstrates the values long held by IWAS to educate, train and provide competitive opportunities to sportsmen and women worldwide.

Competition begins on Saturday (26 November) and continues until 28 November in three sports – athletics, swimming and powerlifting.

Designed to give aspiring Paralympians and emerging athletes their first taste of international competition, the Games have helped produce many of the world’s big name stars.

It is the formula of established athletes competing against the next generation that makes the IWAS World Games so unique and helped it to develop into one of the world’s largest sporting events for athletes with physical impairments.

Athletics is the biggest sport on the programme with 300 athletes going for the podium across track and field events.

Around 40 powerlifters will line-up on the bench of the IWAS World Games 2022.

Swimming will feature 60 athletes.