Sold Out: The Tokyo 2020 Paralympics

(ATR) Demand is outstripping supply in Japan for tickets to the 2020 Paralympics.

International Paralympics Committee President Andrew Parsons says 3.1 million tickets have been ordered in the Japan market but only 2.3 million tickets are available.

"The interest is there and we are absolutely delighted," Parsons tells AP.

Parsons says he’s received permission from Tokyo organizers to disclose sales figures. So far Tokyo 2020 has not revealed any figures for the sale of the 8 million tickets on offer for the Olympic Games, also over-subscribed in Japan by an even larger multiple.

"The Paralympic athletes will be competing in packed stadiums, which is absolutely fantastic for the message we want to send to the world," Parsons is quoted by AP during a visit to Tokyo.

While tickets in the Japanese market are oversubscribed,authorized ticket resellers around the globe are believed to still have tickets for sale in the national markets they cover. Tokyo would appear to be on track to break the record for Paralympic ticket sales set by London, 2.7 million.

On Thursday Parsons and Tokyo 2020 organizers are expected to announce that the marathon races set for Sept. 6, the final day of the Paralympics, will be run in Tokyo. Due to concerns about heat, the Olympic marathons have been moved to Sapporo in northern Japan. With the Paralympics taking place in late August to early September, weather conditions are cooler than during the Olympics.

"There was an overwhelming response from the athletes saying because the Paralympic marathon is the last event of the whole of Tokyo 2020, that it is the moment to be closer to the Tokyo spectators," Parsons is quoted by Reuters.

Parsons says no tickets will be needed to watch the marathon, expressing the hope that hundreds of thousands will turn out to watch the curtain fall on the seven-year journey of Tokyo 2020.

Reported by Ed Hula.