February 2 – The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Governing Board has given the boot to the seven-a-side football discipline for the 2022 Paralympic Games in Tokyo, but five-a-side football is staying in. Seven-a-side football has featured at every Paralympic Games since Los Angeles 1984 and will be played in Rio. The only other discipline to be dropped is Sailing. The two disciplines make way for canoe and triathlon. Taekwando will debut in Tokyo as will Badminton. Seven-a-side football lost its Paralympic status because it failed to fulfil the IPC's minimum criteria of worldwide participation that states "only team sports widely and regularly practised in a minimum of 24 countries and three IPC regions will be considered for inclusion in the Paralympic Games and for individual sports a minimum of 32 countries in three IPC regions". Following the IPC board meeting in Abu Dhabi, president Sir Philip Craven said: "I would like to thank all 24 sports for applying for inclusion in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games and pass on my congratulations to the 22 sports that have been approved by the IPC Governing Board... "To reach this decision, the IPC undertook the most extensive and rigorous review process ever of all the sports which started in November 2013. "All were assessed against the same criteria and our aim all along has been to ensure that the final Tokyo 2020 Paralympic sports programme is fresh and features the best Para-sports possible. "The Board's final decision was not an easy one and, after much debate, we decided not to include two sports - football 7-a-side and sailing - from the Tokyo 2020 programme for the same reason. "Both did not fulfil the IPC Handbook's minimum criteria for worldwide reach." Nine new sports had been proposed at the meeting with two other football disciplines - powerchair football three-on-three and amputee football – failing to make it on to the Tokyo 2020 programme.