The former rugby player Rob Davies, who broke his neck in September 2005 following a collapsed scrum, has won gold in the men’s table tennis class one, beating South Korea’s Young Dae Joo 3-1 in the final. His victory came minutes before Hollie Arnold won gold in the F46 javelin.
Davies, who was a hooker for Brecon RFC, was the underdog going into the final having twice failed to beat Joo.
“I’m not really sure how I’m feeling right now,” he told Channel 4. “I can’t believe I kept it together. I have played Young Dae Joo twice in competition before and lost both times.
“I must thank everybody for their support. We’ve been working hard behind the scenes and it has paid off. I’m chuffed I managed to keep it together. I haven’t beaten any of the Koreans for a while so to do it on the biggest stage is brilliant. Come on!”
Arnold, the double world champion, broke the world record twice to win F46 javelin gold as ParalympicsGB claimed another medal.
“This has been my absolute dream - I cannot believe I am Paralympic champion and double world champion. It is so surreal,” she said on Channel 4. “I’ve been injured for two months but coming here has been as clean slate and I just went out there with nothing to lose.
“I actually thought I had one more throw. When my coach told me I had won gold I just burst into tears. I didn’t expect to break the world record by that much.”
