Azernews.Az

By Laman Ismayilova

A ceremony has been held in the Rio Paralympic village to raise the Azerbaijani tricolor.

Azerbaijan`s hopes will be pinned on 27 para-atheletes in 6 sports, including judo, weightlifting, powerlifting, swimming, shooting and archery.

The opening ceremony of the Games will be held at the Maracana Stadium on September 7. Two-time Paralympic judo champion, winner of the Baku 2015 European Games Ilham Zakiyev will be Azerbaijan`s flag-bearer at the ceremony.

Azerbaijan made its Paralympic Games debut at the 1996 Summer Paralympics in Atlanta, with a two-man delegation to compete in track and field and powerlifting. To date, Azerbaijan has participated in five Summer Paralympic Games.

So far, Azerbaijani athletes have won a total of 27 Paralympic medals, of which eight gold, ten silver and nine bronze. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics, Azerbaijani Paralympic team set a record bringing home a total of 12 medals, four of which were gold.

The Azerbaijani Olympics team returned home from the 2016 Rio Games with 18 medals, thus securing the country’s biggest Olympic medal haul for the past 25 years of Azerbaijan’s independence. The national heroes claimed one gold, seven silver and ten bronze medals.

--

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz