Tokyo Paralympics: First five Team Ireland athletes confirmed

Paralympics Ireland confirmed the first five athletes that will represent Team Ireland at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games from August 24th to September 5th.

It marks the first in a series of announcements over the next fortnight to reveal the composition of the national team who will compete in Japan.

Colin Judge (Table Tennis), Britney Arendse (Powerlifting), Pat O'Leary (Canoe), Kerrie Leonard (Archery) and Phil Eaglesham (shooting) are the first five Team Ireland members to be publicly confirmed. The swim team for the Paralympics will be announced on Thursday, with the cyclists due to be unveiled next Monday.

Eaglesham and O’Leary are appearing in their second Paralympics, having previously competed in Rio (2016) and both will be strong contenders for honours based on medalling at World and European Championships respectively.

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Judge will hope to maintain the excellent form that saw him reach the semi-finals of the Para Qualifying Tournament in Slovenia in June. Kerrie Leonard will compete at her first games in archery while Britney Arendse is the Junior World Record Holder in the 73kg category.

Team Ireland- Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games

Archery (Compound Women Open): Kerrie Leonard.

Canoe (VL3 & KL3): Pat O’Leary

Powerlifting (73kg): Britney Arendse

Shooting (SH2): Phil Eaglesham

Table Tennis (M3): Colin Judge