International Paralympic Committee president Andrew Parsons is hopeful the Tokyo Games can signal the start of a new post-coronavirus era.

The pandemic resulted in the event being put back 12 months and the countdown is back on for the Japanese capital to host the world’s best.

In exactly one year – August 24 – the Paralympic Games are set to get under way and run until September 5 while the Olympic Games are scheduled to begin on July 23 and conclude on August 8.

Several sports which have recently resumed have backed the Black Lives Matter movement in support of the fight against inequality and athletes have spoken about their desire to take a knee at Tokyo.

Parsons added: “We have started a consultation process with the Athlete Community. It is led by our athletes council.

“We have had some good news – I will not say much – in terms of the numbers of athletes who have signed up for that consultation process, so we are happy with the numbers we have so far.

“Many people talk about kneeing on the podium, these are all things that affect the athlete experience for most, so they are the first ones who need to have a position or solid opinion on that issue.

“And then based on their opinion, we will act accordingly, or introduce new rules or change the ones we have.”