More than 4,300 athletes with physical and intellectual disabilities, from 159 countries, will compete in 22 sports as the 2016 Paralympic Games got underway with the opening ceremony in Rio, last night. Russia, second on the medals table at London 2012 behind China and ahead of Great Britain, are absent following a report into state-sponsored doping. Russia had 267 athlete slots and the IPC has redistributed 240 of them to other nations. The 2016 Paralympics will feature 1,500 targeted anti-doping tests – the most ever. The first of 11 days of competition takes place today and the Paralympics run until September 18. Malta will be represented by swimmer Vladyslava Kravchencko.

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