The 2025 Dubai Asian Youth Games for the Disabled (Asian Youth Para Games), a sports festival for youth with disabilities in Asia, entered the heat with the opening ceremony held at the Dubai Sports Club for the Disabled on the 10th (local time).
This tournament, the largest ever, will feature 11 events over 4 days until the 13th, with approximately 1,500 athletes from 35 Asian countries participating. In Korea, 88 people (46 athletes, 42 executives) participated in 9 sports.
Korean athletes who participated in the opening ceremony enjoyed the start of the festival by exchanging badges with athletes from various countries and taking photos together. The opening ceremony was held in the following order: △entry of players, △overview of the competition using AI robots, △opening declaration, △athlete and referee oaths, and △congratulatory performance. The opening ceremony was attended by Mansour bin Mohammed, Chairman of the Dubai Sports Committee, and Thani Juma Berregaard, Chairman of the Organizing Committee, and the opening declaration by Majid Rashed, Chairman of the Asian Paralympic Committee (APC), signaled a strong start.
At the opening ceremony of the 2025 Dubai Asian Youth for the Disabled held by the Korean team at the Dubai Sports Club for the Disabled, archery player Ha-yeon Kwon (front right), the flag bearer, is holding the Taegeukgi along with team leader Cha Woo-gyu (front left). Provided by Korea Sports Association for the Disabled
The Korean team was led by Ha-yeon Kwon (17), who is competing in the Women’s Archery Recurve Open, and entered while waving the national flag. Ha-yeon Kwon said, “I feel a great sense of responsibility as the flag bearer for this competition. I hope to use the skills I have honed so far in the competition and achieve good results.”
The Korean team, which participated in five sports (goalball, boccia, badminton, swimming, and table tennis) held prior to the opening ceremony, won one gold medal and one silver medal.
The first medal came in swimming. Kim Jae-hoon, who participated in the men’s 200m freestyle S14 youth division (12-16 years old), won the gold medal with a time of 2 minutes 7.45 seconds, and Son Ji-won, who participated in the junior division (17-18 years old) of the same event, broke his personal best record of 2 minutes 2.77 seconds and won the silver medal.
The men’s goalball team got off to a good start with a 12-2 cold win over Thailand and a 10-4 win over the Philippines, earning two wins in the preliminary round robin. The women’s goalball team defeated Kazakhstan 10-9, but lost 1-5 to Thailand, recording 1 win and 1 loss. The women’s team will participate in a double league match with three teams participating.
Noh Young-hoon (13, WH2), Kim Ji-seong (15, SL4), and Jang Doo-hyun (20, SL3), who participated in badminton, won 1 game in the individual preliminary round, and Hong Ji-woo and Jang Doo-hyun won 1 game, beating the UAE players 2-0 in the doubles MD SL3-SL4 + WD SL3-SL4 match.
On the second day of the competition, on the 11th, competitions in 8 sports (goalball, boccia, badminton, swimming, archery, weightlifting, track and field, and table tennis) will be held.
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