Continental events in wheelchair fencing have moved to December ©Getty Images

The International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS) has confirmed that continental wheelchair fencing competitions in Asia, Europe and the Americas are now planned for December.

The Asian Championships, European Championships and Americas Championships were due to serve as qualifiers for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics but IWAS closed the qualification window in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This gave organisers more flexibility over when to hold the competitions and, to allow the chance to maximise participation, all three events have now been postponed until the end of the year.

Thailand will host the Asian Championships, Warsaw will stage the European event and the Americas competition is set for Brazil.

The events were previously due to be part of the Tokyo 2020 qualification process ©Getty Images
The events were previously due to be part of the Tokyo 2020 qualification process ©Getty Images

A World Cup event in Brazilian city São Paulo which was scheduled for May has been cancelled, however.

Warsaw will host a World Cup between July 8 and 11, with the event in the Polish capital set to be the last major wheelchair fencing competition before the start of the rearranged Tokyo 2020 Paralympics on August 24.

Pisa in Italy will stage a World Cup after Tokyo 2020 between November 18 and 21, before the continental events close the year.

Exact dates and locations for these will be announced shortly.