"We are backseat players who help athletes play well," Koji Yamaguchi, President of Ox Engineering, told Japan Times. 

The Chiba-based company, founded in 1988, switched to manufacturing wheelchairs less than a decade later and started making them for competitive sports not long after.  The company has been developing and manufacturing wheelchairs for various sports including wheelchair tennis, basketball and racing.

"Manufacturing is a repetitive process of trial and error," Yamaguchi said. "We have cultivated methods and ways of thinking to develop things since we were developing motorcycle engines," he added.

Ox Engineering considers the athletes when developing their materials.

"By utilizing the know-how accumulated through the development of sports wheelchairs, we can provide wheelchairs that are easier to use even for daily users," Yamaguchi said.

Paralympians competing in Ox wheelchairs have won more than 140 medals in summer and winter events combined, from the Atlanta Games in 1996 to the Tokyo Games in 2021.

"We are just helping them play better as much as possible. Athletes come into Paralympic Games after hard training, so we will be happy if they get good results," Yamaguchi said.