An Opening Ceremony is scheduled tomorrow, while men's football matches began today.

Russia and Belarus will be notable by their absence, removed from the event by the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (ICSD), which confirmed last month that it was implementing the recommendation from the International Olympic Committee to ban athletes and officials from these countries due to their involvement in the invasion of Ukraine.

ICSD President Gustavo Perazzolo also expressed concern for the National Deaf Sports Federation of Ukraine after making the decision and called for peace.

The 24th edition of the Deaflympics had initially been scheduled to take place from December 5 to 21 in 2021, but was postponed due to COVID-19 complications.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is expected to officially open the Deaflympics at the Festa da Uva Main Pavillion.

Brazil's delegation at the event will be the nation's largest ever, while more than 100 countries are expected to send teams.

There are 209 events in 17 sports on the Deaflympics programme.

Athletics, badminton, cycling, golf, judo, karate, orienteering, shooting, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, wrestling, basketball, football, handball and volleyball are the 17 sports.

The last summer Deaflympics took place in 2017 in the Turkish city of Samsun.