The opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Paralympics was held yesterday (29) at 2.30 am Sri Lanka time. The opening ceremony of the Paralympics was held at the historic Place de la Concorde urban park in France. The special feature here is that it is the first time in the history of the Paralympics that an opening ceremony was held outside a stadium.Place de la Concorde previously hosted the Winter Paralympics in 1992. The artistic direction of the opening ceremony has been done by Thomas Jolly.

The opening of the Paralympics was colorful with various dances, musical performances, etc., which showcased the French culture. The flower shooting festival with the colors of the French flag impressed everyone. The inaugural parade marched along the city's main thoroughfare. Samitha Dulan, the captain of the Sri Lankan team who represented the Paralympics, walked in the front with the Sri Lankan flag. Charles Antoine, Nantanin Keita, Fabien Lamirault, Alexis Hanquinquant and Élode Lorand lit the Paralympic flame here.
8 athletes are participating in this year's Paralympic tournament representing Sri Lanka. Meanwhile Naveed Rasheen who represented Sri Lanka competed in the 400m freestyle swimming event in the H9 category. He finished fifth in the preliminary round. It took 4.42.71 minutes for Naveed to finish the race.
Accordingly, Naveed had to give up his hopes of entering the semi-finals of the competition. Suresh Dharmasena is scheduled to play in the Open Singles Wheelchair Tennis event today (30th) at 3.30 pm (Sri Lanka time). Janani Dhananjana will compete tomorrow (31st) at 1.30 pm (Sri Lanka time) in the T47 category long jump event.