During the visit, Parsons participated in the SportAccord Summit and met with National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) and International Federations (IFs) representatives, athletes and politicians from Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

SportAccord Summit was held in Bangkok from April 15 to 20.

It was there that Parsons took part in a panel discussion on the power of influence marketing.

The other panel members were Jean-Marc Pailhol, head of global market management and distribution at Allianz, International Surfing Association President Fernando Aguerre, and Troy Pugmire, managing director of Gramercy Global Media.

Following SportAccord Summit, Parsons stayed in Bangkok and on Monday (April 23) met with Thailand’s Minister of Tourism and Sports, Weerasak Kowsurat.

He also met with NPC Thailand’s President Chutinant Bhirombhakdi and secretary general Osot Pawilai, as well as a number of Thai Para-athletes.

The IPC President then travelled to Malaysia, where he visited the Badminton World Federation's (BWF) headquarters in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday (April 24).

He met with the BWF’s President Poul-Erik Hoyer and secretary general Thomas Lund.

Badminton is one of two sports alongside taekwondo that will make its Paralympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 Games.

The same day Parsons visited the Malaysian Paralympic Training Centre, where he was welcomed by a group of Para-athletes, including the country’s three gold medallists from the Rio 2016 Paralympics; sprinter Mohamad Ridzuan Mohamad Puzi, long jumper Abdul Latif Romly and shot putter Muhammad Zolkefli.

Parsons also met with NPC Malaysia’s President Nasarudin Nasimuddin and secretary general Siti Zaharah Binti Abdul Khalid.  

He then visited the Malaysian National Sports Complex and met representatives from the Ministry of Youth and Sport.

In Singapore yesterday, Parsons met the country’s Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, Grace Fu, and was then given a tour of the national Sports Hub facility.

His time there included meetings with NPC Singapore’s President Kevin Wong and secretary general Sharon Poh, and representatives from the Singapore Sports Institute and Sport Singapore.

The same day, Parsons participated in the BP CEO Dialogue, an annual event with chief executives and leaders held at BP's headquarters.

While there, he also met Para-athletes, including IPC Athletes’ Council member and boccia player Nurulasyiqah Mohammad Taha.

Also present was Para-swimmer Wei Soong Toh, the bronze medallist in the men's S7 50 metres freestyle at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, and Para-badminton world champion Tay Wei Ming.

"It has been an incredible 10 days in South East Asia where I could meet with NPCs and International Federations' representatives, ministers and athletes to witness the development of Para-sports in the region," Parsons said.

"We have a lot of work ahead us but it was great to see so many dynamic and talented people fully committed with the progress of the Paralympic Movement in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore."