Office for Sports Promotion

Riki Ito played Kendo in junior high school, played tennis in high school, and even after entering the workforce, he enjoyed playing futsal with friends on his days off.Meanwhile, his right arm was amputated due to an accident at work.I was shocked when I learned that his arm had been amputated, but the first thing that came to my mind was about my wife, whom I had only been married to for a month.
　"When I saw my wife crying, I came to my senses and realized that this was not a dream but reality." After organizing my mind and heart and calming myself down, I realized, "It can't be helped that this happened." ``I thought, ``Something will work out,'' and then I had the desire to get out of the hospital as soon as possible and move my body.
　``When I sit still in the hospital, I end up having negative thoughts.But when I play sports, I can focus on it and feel very positive, so I wanted to get my body moving as soon as possible. ”
　From then on, I approached the hospital doctor almost every day saying I wanted to be discharged from the hospital, and I was discharged two months earlier than planned.Shortly after that, he started playing amputee soccer, which he had been searching for, which led him to discover para-taekwondo.
``I happened to have a friend of someone involved in Amputee Soccer who was a taekwondo instructor.He told me, ``Para taekwondo has been officially adopted as a sport at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, so they are looking for athletes.''Would you like to try it? ”I was called out to him.”
　I've never competed in martial arts, let alone taekwondo, but if there's anything I can do, I'll give it a try!Without hesitation, I replied, ``I'll do it.''
　"There aren't many opportunities to aim for the Tokyo Paralympics. I decided to enjoy my current situation."
　From here, Ito's new competitive life began, aiming for the big stage of the Tokyo Paralympics.

``I wondered if getting my family involved in my dream would really make me happy.However, when I asked my wife about going to Tokyo, she immediately agreed and said, ``Let's give it a try.'' If I hadn't told you, I don't think I would have made the decision to go to Tokyo."
The irreplaceable presence of his family has made his enthusiasm for the Tokyo Paralympics even stronger.

Para Taekwondo was added as an official sport at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.However, the current situation is that there are only a small number of people competing, and that general awareness of the sport is low.In order to overcome this situation, Ito has been disseminating information about para-taekwondo on his own social media.Until Mr. Ito started para-taekwondo, he didn't know that there was a sport called para-taekwondo.However, when he started competing, he learned about the fun and depth of para taekwondo, and his desire to ``want more people to know the appeal of para taekwondo'' and ``want to make para taekwondo more popular'' became stronger. Noda.
　``I used to use Twitter, so I started posting information about tournaments, trial classes, and other places where you can experience para taekwondo in your area.Now, I look at Twitter and come to support the tournaments. The number of people giving it to me is increasing."
　He continues to post on SNS every day with the sole purpose of not only improving himself but also enlivening the sport as a whole.

``I feel very lucky to have found something that I'm passionate about and to be in an environment where I can aim for the Tokyo Paralympics.And I want to show my family the best on the best stage.So for now, I'm focused on winning the gold medal.'' I'm only thinking about getting it."
　Powerful gaze and enthusiasm that conveys determination.I'm looking forward to Ito's future activities.