Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has sent a message of encouragement to Singapore's para-athletes as they get set to compete at the Tokyo Paralympics, which opened yesterday.

Noting their sacrifice and hard work "to make it to this pinnacle event for sports", he wrote on his Facebook page yesterday morning: "Not only have they trained relentlessly, but they have spent their lives overcoming peoples' expectations of the differently-abled. Now, they will represent Singapore at the Paralympics.