A panel on the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office promotes the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games starting on 24 August Photo: Shutterstock

A panel on the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office promotes the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games starting on 24 August Photo: Shutterstock

Luxembourg Paralympian Tom Habscheid will have a solitary time in Tokyo this week as the only Luxembourg athlete to qualify for the games.  

The 35-year-old shot putter, who qualified after winning silver at the 2019 World Para Championships, had his international debut in 2013, a year after watching the London Paralympic Games. Tokyo marks his second appearance at a Paralympic Games.

Habscheid won’t be entirely alone--he is accompanied by his coach, Fernand Heintz, chief of mission Marc Kiefer and covid liaison officer Mathis Finke.

2019 photo shows Tom Habscheid with Katrin Kohl Mike Zenari

2019 photo shows Tom Habscheid with Katrin Kohl Mike Zenari

According to a statement from Luxembourg’s Olympic committee, the athlete competes on 4 September when he will aim to improve on his seventh place in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.

“I am looking forward to the start. I have worked hard for this competition in the last years and I just want to deliver a good competition. What comes out in the end also depends on the competition. But I feel really fit and am fully motivated,” Habscheid said during a public briefing on 24 August.

Some 4,600 athletes from 160 nations will compete in 22 sports at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo from 24 August to 5 September.

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