How Paralympics classification is done | Tokyo Paralympics News – Times of India

At the Paralympics, classifications are a way for organisers to group like-with-like athletes, so people of roughly equivalent levels of impairment – or roughly equal functional ability – can compete together fairly. Classification determines who is eligible to compete in a Para sport and it groups the eligible athletes in sport classes according to their activity limitation in a certain sport.
How does classification work?
A procedure known as ‘Athlete Evaluation’ is used to classify athletes. Athletes are assessed and assigned a sport class and sport class status based on their level of impairment.
STEP 1: The first phase in the Athlete Evaluation procedure is to ascertain if the athlete has an eligible impairment.
10 ELIGIBLE IMPAIRMENTS
*Impairment of muscle power (muscle weakness): Athletes with Impaired Muscle Power have a health condition that either reduces or eliminates their ability to voluntarily contract their muscles in order to move or to generate force. Examples include spinal cord injury (complete or incomplete, tetra-or paraplegia or paraparesis), muscular dystrophy, post-polio syndrome and spina bifida.
*Impaired passive range of movement: Athletes with Impaired Passive Range of Movement have a restriction or a lack of passive movement in one or more joints. Examples include arthrogryposis and contracture resulting from chronic joint immobilisation or trauma affecting a joint.
*Limb deficiency: Athletes with Limb Deficiency have total or partial absence of bones or joints as a consequence of trauma (for example traumatic amputation), illness (for example amputation due to bone cancer) or congenital limb deficiency (for example dysmelia).
*Leg length difference: Athletes with Leg Length Difference have a difference in the length of their legs as a result of a disturbance of limb growth or as a result of trauma.
*Short stature: Athletes with Short Stature have a reduced length in the bones of the upper limbs, lower limbs and/or trunk. Examples include achondroplasia, growth hormone dysfunction and osteogenesis imperfecta.
* Hypertonia (muscle tension): Athletes with Hypertonia have an increase in muscle tension and a reduced ability of a muscle to stretch caused by damage to the central nervous system. Examples include cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury and stroke.
* Ataxia (uncoordinated movements): Athletes with Ataxia have uncoordinated movements caused by damage to the central nervous system.
* Athetosis (involuntary movements): Athletes with Athetosis have continual slow involuntary movements.
* Vision impairment: Athletes with Vision Impairment have reduced or no vision caused by damage to the eye structure, optical nerves or optical pathways or visual cortex of the brain.
* Intellectual impairment: Athletes with an Intellectual Impairment have a restriction in intellectual functioning and adaptive behaviour which affects conceptual, social and practical adaptive skills required for everyday life. This impairment must be present before the age of 18.
STEP 2: The next stage is to see if the athlete meets the sport’s Minimum Impairment Criteria, which determines whether or not the impairment is severe enough for the athlete to compete in Paralympics.
STEP 3: The third and last phase is defining an athlete’s sports class, which lets the panel decide which class the athlete should compete in based on similar activity constraints, ensuring fair and equitable competition.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF SPORT CLASSES
There are various Sport Classes based on the level of impairment. In archery, for example, the sport class ‘W1’ denotes athletes who compete in a wheelchair. There are some sports that only have one sport class and then there is athletics, which includes all 10 eligible impairments and has over 50 sport classes. Para ice hockey and para powerlifting are among the sports that have only one sport class.
Examples of Sport Classes based on impairments: Vision impairment: Sport Classes T/F11-T/F13; Intellectual impairment: T20/F20; Coordination impairments: F31, T32/F32-T38/F38; Short stature: T40/F40, T41/F41; Limb deficiencies: T42/F42 – T46/F46, T47, T/F61-64; Impaired muscle power or impaired range of movement: T51-54; F51-57
THE EXAMPLE OF INDIANS:
Devendra Jhajharia and Sundar Singh Gurjar won silver and bronze in men’s javelin throw – F46 event. The F46 classification is for athletes with arm deficiency, impaired muscle power or impaired passive range of movement in arms, with athletes competing in a standing position.
Sumit Antil bagged gold in men’s javelin throw – F64 event. The F64 category is for athletes with a leg amputation, who compete with prosthetics in a standing position.
Avani Lekhara won gold in 10m air rifle SH1 event. The SH1 classification is for pistol and rifle competitors that do not require a shooting stand. The pistol class has athletes with an impairment affecting one arm and/or the legs. The rifle class involves athletes with impairment in their legs, such as amputations or spinal cord injuries.
Yogesh Kathuniya clinched silver in men’s discus throw F56 event. The F56 classification is for athletes with impaired muscle power, restricted range of movement, limb deficiency or leg length difference, with athletes competing in seated position due to cervical cord injury, spinal cord injury, amputation, functional disorder.
Nishad Kumar grabbed silver in men’s high jump T47 event. The T47 is for athletes with arm deficiency, impaired muscle power or impaired passive range of movement in arms, with athletes competing in a standing position.
Bhavina Patel won silver in women’s singles Class 4 event in table tennis. The sport has 11 different classifications. Classes 1-5 are for wheelchair athletes. Classes 6-10 are for standing athletes. Finally, class 11 is for athletes with intellectual impairments. Within the wheelchair and standing classes, the lower the number, the greater the impact of the impairment on an athlete.