TOKYO • With legs whirling and feet flying, taekwondo made its Paralympic debut at the Tokyo Games yesterday - and some claim it offers more thrills and spills than its Olympic counterpart.

The Paralympic version of the Korean martial art - in which fighters attempt to land blows on each other on an octagonal mat - bans kicks to the head and offers no points for punches.

But Nathan Cesar Sodario Torquato believes that makes the para version all the more exciting, describing the action as "frenetic".

"You're not allowed to kick in the head, so you don't need to be afraid to be very aggressive," said the Brazilian fighter, who won the inaugural gold in the men's K44 -61kg, beating Egypt's Mohamed Elzayat at the Makuhari Messe Event Hall.

In taekwondo - the first full-contact sport in Paralympic history - points are awarded for landing kicks on an opponent's padded upper body.

A simple kick to the trunk scores two points, while a turning kick is worth three and a more spectacular spinning kick four. Kicks to the head result in disqualification.

The first bout of the day pitted Afghanistan's Zakia Khudadadi, who arrived following a dramatic evacuation from Kabul, against Uzbekistan's Ziyodakhon Isakova.

She won the first round 6-5, but fell behind in the second and eventually lost the match 17-12.

World Taekwondo president Choue Chung-won said her appearance in Tokyo proved how much the sport had grown.

"We started to organise the world para taekwondo championships in 2009 - the first one had not many athletes participating, less than 12 countries," he said.

"This time, we have 37 countries and 73 athletes."

Diversity also came in the form of Parfait Hakizimana, a member of the Refugee Paralympic Team.

He fled violence in his native Burundi in 2015, and now lives in a refugee camp in Rwanda, where he has set up a taekwondo club and trained over 1,000 fellow refugees.

"Taekwondo helps people to love each other," said Hakizimana, who was forced to withdraw from the repechage round with an injury.

Peru's Leonor Espinoza Carranza was the first women's champion, beating Turkey's Meryem Cavdar in the K44 -49kg final.

Elsewhere in the soggy Olympic Stadium yesterday, Cape Verde's Keula Nidreia Pereira Semedo failed to qualify for the women's T11 200m semi-finals - but there was a surprise consolation prize.

After the race, her guide runner Manuel Antonio Vaz da Veiga got down on one knee and proposed. A shot of the magic moment showed both beaming as she accepted.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS