Agitos Foundation attends “Sport for tomorrow” workshop in Tokyo

As part of their “Sport for tomorrow” initiative, the Japanese Government held a workshop in Tokyo this week to identify partnership opportunities to support sports development for persons with an impairment around the world ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Governing Board member Yasushi Yamawaki and Agitos Foundation director Georg Schlachtenberger attended the workshop together with 20 other representatives from the Japan Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), the Japan Sports Council, the Japan Development Agency, the Japan Anti-Doping Agency, University of Tsukuba and Agitos Foundation delivery partner Play & Train.

Following the workshop, which was opened by Japan Sport Council Vice President Keisuke Yoshio, attending organisations presented their current activities.

The Japan Sports Council outlined that it will establish a concept and action plan for a partnership that will benefit the promotion of para-sport and athlete development activities a number of selected National Paralympic Committees (NPC).

Specific para-sport elements will also be included in the activities and programmes of the University of Tsukuba and the Japan Anti-Doping Agency.

“The overall initiative ‘Sport for tomorrow’ provides an amazing opportunity for all involved partners to use their resources effectively and efficiently for the work with selected NPCs on specific programmes such as athlete pathway support, anti-doping, education and many more,” said Georg Schlachtenberger.

The Japanese government is committed to creating the future through the power of sport with more than 10 million people of over 100 countries from now until 2020. With the ‘Sport for Tomorrow’ programme, Japan aims to be involved in the promotion of sport and the Olympic and Paralympic Movement, including offering assistance to developing countries; training future sport leaders at the new international sport academy; and further protecting and promoting the values of sport by extending anti-doping initiatives globally.