Meet the Refugee team competing at Tokyo Paralympics
By- Keyur Jain
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For the first time, an official refugee team is participating in the Paralympic Games. Six refugee athletes are competing under the banner of the Refugee Paralympic Team (RPT) at Tokyo's 2020 Paralympic Games
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One woman and five men make up the team. These six will stand in for the 82 million people who have been forced to flee their homes and enter another country
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Ibrahim Al Hussein, Swimming
Ibrahim Al Hussein is a Syrian born Paralympic swimmer residing in Greece
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Alia Issa, Club Throw
Issa's father left Syria for Greece in 1996, Issa was born in Greece shortly after that in 2001. She is competing in the club throw event
Parfait Hakizimana is a Burundian para taekwondo practitioner who currently resides in Rwanda. In 2015 he left Burundi
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Abbas Karimi, Swimming
Swimming propelled Abbas Karimi, currently residing in Turkey, fled from Afghanistan when he was 16
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Anas Al Khalifa, Canoe Sprint
Anas was born in Syria, he left the country in 2011. After spending 4 years in a refugee camp near Turkey, in August 2015, he arrived in Germany
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Shahrad Nasajpour, Discus Throw
Growing up in Iran, Shahrad was unable to train in Iran for years due to unforeseen circumstances, and was forced to flee the country in late 2015, arriving in the United States