
Hidetaka Sugimura won a gold medal in the boccia individual BC2, a class for athletes with cerebral palsy, defeating Rio de Janeiro gold medalist Watcharaphon Vongsa of Thailand 5-0 at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre on Wednesday.
Sugimura, who hails from Ito, Shizuoka Prefecture, defeated London gold medalist Maciel Santos of Brazil 3-2 in the semifinal after winning three preliminary matches and a quarterfinal.
Sugimura has congenital cerebral palsy, and started playing boccia when he was a third-year high school student. This is the second Paralympic medal for Sugimura, who has participated in three straight Paralympics since the 2012 London Games. He earned a silver in a team event at Rio.
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