TEHRAN - Iranian Chef de Mission Hadi Rezaei says that they will send 59 athletes to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

It will be the nation’s smallest team since sending 40 to Sydney 2000.

Since then, Iran sent 89 athletes to Athens 2004, 72 to Beijing 2008, 79 to London 2012 and 110 to Rio 2016.

Iran finished 15th in the medal table in 2016 with 24 medals after winning eight golds, nine silvers and seven bronzes.

“Iran will compete in athletics (14), archery (6), sitting volleyball (12), wheelchair basketball (12), taekwondo (3), rowing (2), judo (2), shooting (3) and powerlifting (5) at the 2020 Tokyo,” Rezaei said at a webinar hosted by the Iranian National Paralympic Committee.

“We have 52 male and seven female in our delegation. We cannot exactly predict how many medals we will win but we are going to sit in a better position than the previous edition. I think our athletes will win eight gold, 12 silver and six bronze medals based on our evaluation.

“We have not yet won a quota place in cycling for the Games but there is still a chance we send a cyclist to Tokyo,” Rezaei concluded.

About 4,400 competitors from more than 160 countries were set to compete at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics before it was delayed by a year.