The opening ceremony of the Paralympics will take place on Wednesday (28 August), with a total of 549 gold medals available across 22 sports.

Africa won 63 medals – with a third of those gold – in Tokyo three years ago.

However, that tally was down on the 97 medals secured at Rio 2016, with the Covid pandemic’s impact on preparations among the reasons cited for the decrease.

The majority of the continent’s success came in track and field events, with powerlifting the next most successful discipline for African competitors.

Gold medals were also won in cycling and judo, with one podium finish also in each of football, table tennis and taekwondo.

Ten African countries are not sending a team to the Games, while nine others are set to have just a single representative.

Eritrea is one member of the latter group, with the east African nation also making its Paralympic Games debut.