Tokyo, Mar 28 (IANS): The Aichi Prefecture and its capital city Nagoya in Japan on Monday announced their intention to host the 2026 Asian Para Games and have applied to the Asian Paralympic Committee (APC) for the same.

The host city will be formally approved by the APC Board of Directors later this year.

These will be the fifth Para Games and will follow on from the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Para Games which will take place from October 9-15 later this year.

Around 4,000 athletes and team officials from the APC's 44-member countries are expected to attend and 18 sports will be on the programme. The Games will take place in October 2026 following the Asian Games and will use the same venues and village.

APC president Majid Rashed said, "We have been working closely with Aichi-Nagoya over the past couple of years scoping the delivery of these Games. I'm delighted that today we can formally announce that they will be going ahead.

"Following on from the Tokyo Paralympics, this shows the commitment of the Aichi Prefecture, Nagoya City and more widely Japan to promote inclusion and support the development of para-sport."