Tomorrow will see the grand opening of the 25th Summer Deaflympics in the capital of the Land of the Rising Sun – Tokyo.

The Deaflympics are international competitions for the deaf and hard of hearing, held since 1924 under the auspices of the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (ICSD). At the upcoming Games, 212 sets of medals will be awarded in 21 sports. Participation of about 3,000 athletes from more than 70 countries is expected. The official mascot of the Games is the Yuriito bird in a pink T-shirt with the competition's emblem.

36 individuals from Russia will participate in the Games as Deaf Individual Neutral Athletes (DINA). Athletes competing in neutral status will compete in the following disciplines: badminton, freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling, road cycling, mountain bike cycling, golf, judo, karate, athletics, table tennis, swimming, tennis, and taekwondo.

Athletes competing in neutral status:

Athletics – Yulia Abubyakirova, Viktoria Aksenova, Ardasher Mumindzhanov, Denis Fedorenkov

Badminton – Shokhzod Gulomzoda, Mikhail Yefremov, Elena Tyurina, Olga Shtaiger

Cycling (road) – Alisa Bondareva, Elizaveta Bavykina, Yegor Gavrilov, Dmitry Rozanov

Cycling (mountain bike) – Alexandra Yevdokimova, Anna Poretskova, Alexey Kudrin, Alexey Bozhko

Golf – Dmitry Zotov, Leonid Inozemtsev

Judo – Alina Pozdeyeva, Mikhail Ryabchenko

Karate – Irina Krivova, Sergey Tetyushkin

Swimming – Olga Klyuchnikova, Viktoria Terentyeva, Stepan Skosyrsky, Mark Troshin

Table Tennis – Tatyana Chikunova, Asilbek Suynaliev, Yegor Astafiev

Taekwondo – Madina Satushieva, Shamil Isakov

Tennis – Polina Smirnova, Anastasia Lasitsa, Dmitry Dolzhenkov, Vladislav Abramov

Wrestling (freestyle and Greco-Roman) – Alexey Shemarov

We'll keep you updated on the events. Stay tuned.

Best of luck to the athletes!

Text: Olga Troynikova

Photo source: Deaflympics2025-games.jp

Translation: Daria Kudelina