Some of the best photos from day eight:
And that brings an end to our Paralympics live blog for day eight. Congratulations to all today’s medallists, and indeed all the competitors who have worked so hard to get to a level where they can become Paralympians. There was drama in the boccia, in the table tennis, in the pool and on the athletics track for ParalympicsGB today: David Smith retained his boccia title, the men’s table tennis team progressed to the final in the 6-7 classes with a tense win against Spain. The women’s team took bronze in the 4-5 classes. Sammi Kinghorn took bronze in the T53 100m final and Becky Redfern claimed silver in the SB13 women’s 100m Breaststroke. Victoria Rumary also won archery bronze in the women’s individual W1 class. Well done to all.
Elsewhere there were medals – and remarkable performances – from Jetze Plat in the H4 road race, Yiting Shi of China and Thailand’s Athiwat Paeng-nuea on the track, and of course another Paralympic gold medal for Markus Rehm of Germany.
Thanks for reading, emailing and commenting and see you next time.
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Badminton: GB’s Daniel Bethell, the No 2 seed, seals a commanding win in Group B against Japan’s Daisuke Fujihara: 21-11, 21-7, which brings an end to the first-ever session of Paralympic badminton. The match lasted 44 minutes, with an average rally of 14 strokes, the longest being 73 strokes. It was a strong all-round performance from Bethell.
Badminton: GB’s Daniel Bethell is turning in a fine performance and leads 14-6 and 1-0 in games, in the second game of his Group B match against Japan’s Daisuke Fujihara.
Some people have called him the Lionel Messi of his sport, but David Smith prefers to style himself as the Ronnie O’Sullivan of boccia. “I like to be creative, I like to put on a show, I like to play well”, he says, though there is a caveat to the comparison. “I prefer to win, so I get you could put me in that camp but I’m probably unlike Ronnie and more like [Cristiano] Ronaldo in that, if I have to dig it out I will.”
Yiting Shi of China takes the plaudits – and the gold medal – for the brilliant world-record run earlier in the T36 100m women’s final.
Wheelchair basketball: Japan beat Australia, 61-55, and they are through to the semi-finals! They will take on ParalympicsGB in the last four.
Wheelchair basketball: Japan lead Australia 61-55 with 25.3 seconds remaining on the clock in their men’s quarter-final.
Long jump photos are fun, it has been revealed:
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In late July, as soon as Emma McKeon won the first of her four gold medals at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, she was guaranteed a $20,000 bonus. Last week, when another Australian swimmer, Lakeisha Patterson, did the same thing at the same venue, she received nothing. The difference? One was competing at an Olympic Games, and the other a Paralympics.
Badminton: Daniel Bethell leads 13-7 in the first game of his men’s Group B match against Daisuke Fujihara. A reminder that this is the first day of the badminton competition, which is making its Paralympic debut.
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Wheelchair basketball: Japan lead Australia 45-37 in the third quarter of their men’s quarter-final match.
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Badminton: Daniel Bethell’s Group B Men’s singles match against Daisuke Fujihara has begun.
Markus Rehm talks after winning his fourth Paralympic gold medal: “This medal took a lot of effort, we worked five years for that, finally it took place, and I’m just very happy that it does take place, even under different circumstances [Covid-19]. I’m very happy to take this gold medal back to Germany. My motivation is the distance ... I try to jump further and further, and challenge my own world record ... maybe I’ll get another chance to come back to this beautiful stadium and give it another try.
“I have to continue training really hard ... I had no injuries, no nothing this season, and that’s super important ... so thanks to my team ... I think there’s a little bit left ... while I have this feeling, that I could jump a little further, I will continue.”
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As I mentioned earlier – controversy in the F20 class shot put:
Long jump gold for Markus Rehm!
The German secures his fourth Paralympic gold medal in the T64 class with a best jump of 8.18m. Dimitri Pavade wins silver with a PB, 7.39m, and Trenten Merrill takes bronze with 7.08m. An expected win for the five-times world champion, who applauds the smattering of spectators in the stadium.
Tanni Grey-Thompson, on Channel 4, praises Rehm: “He pushes himself, he’s constantly competing against himself, to push the sport forward ... I love watching him jump, he wants to be the best he can be, and that’s what you want from an athlete.”
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It’s pouring with rain at the Olympic Stadium right now.
Badminton is making its Paralympics debut today. The results are coming in thick and fast and you can see them in full on the official site, right here.
Daniel Bethell of ParalympicsGB is in action very soon, taking on Daisuke Fujihara of Japan in Group B. They were meant to start at 20 minutes past the hour but it looks like it’s been delayed a little.
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“The best kiss I’ve ever had.”
The best kiss I’ve ever had!!! This guy is a hero ❤️❤️ we go for GOLD pic.twitter.com/YRFjBeZg0S
— Will Bayley MBE (@WillBayleytt) September 1, 2021
Becky Redfern speaks to Channel 4 after her silver medal in the SB13 women’s 100m Breaststroke earlier on: “It’s been a really tough couple of years, mentally and physically ... I just want to thank my family ... and the coaches at home and they coach here, they’ve been so supportive ... I’m so grateful to be standing here ... I just want to give my son [Patrick] a cuddle ... it’s been so hard being away, but I know that he’s proud of me.”
Redfern led at the halfway point of the race, and was pipped at the end by Germany’s Elena Krawzow, but does she look disappointed? Not a bit of it. She is thrilled with a silver medal and rightly so.
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“I’ve never won a road race in my life and I never thought I would ever win a road race in my life. I feel like I’m on cloud nine right now. At the start I was so nervous, I couldn’t even feel my grips.”
Oksana Masters of the USA reflects on her second gold medal of these Games, in the H5 women’s road race earlier. That’s her first-ever win in a road race of any kind. Talent!
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Wheelchair basketball: The last of the quarter-finals in the men’s competition is taking place. Japan lead Australia 28-20 in the second quarter.
If cricket’s your thing, Tanya Aldred has live updates from the county championship right here:
Long jump: Markus Rehm leads the way in the T64 men’s long jump with a mark of 8.06m. His world record of 8.62m was set in Poland in June this year. And here he comes again ... and sets 8.09m. He is firmly in gold medal position. Dimitri Pavade of France is second with 7.39m, and Trentin Merrill (USA) has just moved into third, with 7.08m.
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Swimmer Blake Cochrane has two gold and two silver Paralympic medals to his name, but says his bronze in Tokyo is the most special after almost retiring in 2020. Australia added four medals to its swimming tally on Wednesday night with Tim Hodge winning silver and Cochrane, Tiffany Thomas Kane and Thomas Gallagher all claiming bronze.
Table tennis bronze for Bailey and Shackleton!
It wasn’t to be against China in the semi-final, but a fantastic result all the same for Sue Bailey and Megan Shackleton, who take third place on the podium in the classes 4-5 semi-final. China will meet Sweden in the final after winning the doubles 3-0 and the singles 3-0, with Bian Zhang having too much for Megan Shackleton.
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Sammi Kinghorn speaks after her bronze medal in the T53 100m final: “It’s been a long day waiting for a final at 8.30 at night ... it’s been a tough one. I can’t believe it, to come fifth in Rio, and now to get bronze. I know I’m getting faster ... and one day I will win gold. It’s just learning, I’ve learned again today ... it’s [not the same] looking up and not seeing my parents in the crowd ... but I’m so chuffed to come away with a medal.
“I’m 25 ... Three years until Paris, I’ll be 28, and hopefully more mature ... I’m so pleased I managed to do it.”
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Bronze for Sammi Kinghorn in the T53 100m final!
It’s a bronze medal for Sammi Kinghorn, a first Paralympic medal in Tokyo for her. Fang Gao of China wins gold in 16.29sec, Hongzhuan Zhou takes silver in 16.48sec, with Kinghorn third in 16.53sec.
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David Smith, the winningest boccia player in ParalympicGB’s history. We’ve got a full report on that coming up soon.
MASSIVE SHOUT to our most successful ever boccia player. #ImpossibleToIgnore pic.twitter.com/TEStwJ8K4n
— ParalympicsGB (@ParalympicsGB) September 1, 2021
Athletics: Thanks to Pagey, in the comments, for pointing this result out:
“Massive upset in the T54 100m Wheelchair sprint. The Finnish legend Leo Pekka Tahti - who has won every Paralympic final since Athens 2004 - is beaten by an 18-year-old Thai, Athiwat Paeng-nuea.”
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The medal table is available to view here:
Athletics: Shi Yiting of China produces a world-record run to win the T36 women’s 100m. She’s broken her own world record, set in London in 2017, with a time of 13.61sec. Elena Ivanova was second in 14.60sec, Danielle Aitchison (New Zealand) took bronze in 14.62sec.
That’s Yiting’s second gold medal of the Games: she also won the T36 200m, again with a world record.
Table tennis: Zhang now leads Shackleton 2-0 in games in this singles match, so China are firmly in control of this semi-final as things stand.
Table tennis: Bian Zhang of China leads GB’s Megan Shackleton 1-0 in games in their classes 4-5 semi-final singles matchup. China won the doubles match, before this, 3-0.
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Swimming: Viktoriia Ishchiulova (RPC) won gold in the Women’s S7 50m freestyle, holding off Brazil’s Cecilia Kethlen Jeronimo de Araujo by .92sec, with Zenia Palazzo (Italy) claiming bronze.
Swimming silver for Becky Redfern!
A little earlier, in the SB13 women’s 100m Breaststroke, Becky Redfern was pipped to gold by Germany’s Elena Krawzow, losing out by just .64sec. Colleen Young of the USA won bronze, 2.23sec behind Krawzow.
1 September - #ParaSwimming - Women's 100m Breaststroke - SB13
— #Tokyo2020 (@Tokyo2020) September 1, 2021
🥇Elena Krawzow🇩🇪
🥈Rebecca Redfern🇬🇧
🥉Colleen Young🇺🇸#UnitedByEmotion | #Paralympics | #Tokyo2020
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Table tennis: It keeps on coming: In the women’s classes 4-5, GB have just started their semi-final against China. More to come on that ...
Wheelchair basketball: More success for ParalympicsGB as they beat Canada in the quarter-final! Final score: 66-52.
ParalympicsGB are in the men's table tennis final!
Incredible. Karabardak forces match point at 10-9, and grabs the game and the match! ParalympicsGB will face China in the final. Karabardak has never beaten Valera before, with a 12-0 record to the Spaniard.
No one beats him 13 times in a row, I guess ...
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Table tennis: It’s 6-6 in the decisive game. Get to a telly and put More 4 on because this is amazing stuff.
Karabardak, the commentator tells us, has never beaten Valera in 12 previous attempts.
And now it moves to 9-9 ...
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Table tennis: Valera proves his world No 1 status by dominating the fourth game. He wins it, 11-5, and this remarkable men’s semi-final match moves into a deciding game. Compelling stuff.
Now, Valera hands Karabardak a few cheap points at the start of the decider. GB lead 3-0, and Spain call a timeout.
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Wheelchair basketball: GB have struck back against Canada in the men’s quarter-final, and lead 49-45 in the fourth quarter! Seven minutes remain.
Table tennis: The skill on show in this men’s semi-final singles match between Karabardak and Valera is astonishing. There have been rallies of 22 and 18 shots. It’s locked at 11-11 in third game, and 1-1 in games ... and Karabardak takes the game and moves into the lead at 2-1! Valera, the commentator points out, is the world No 1 while GB’s Karabardak is ranked No 8.
Karabardak is a game away from victory in this singles match at 2-1 ahead. So one more game and ParalympicsGB will compete for the gold medal against China, who defeated Germany earlier today.
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Goalball: Brazil have edged past China 1-0 in the women’s quarter-final, the winner coming from Ana Carolina Duarte Ruas Custodio.
The Paralympics site is telling me that the fourth quarter-final, between the United States and RPC, has been rescheduled. Turkey and Japan are the other sides to have made it into the semi-finals.
Table tennis: Paul Karabardak fights back to level at 1-1 in games against Álvaro Valera of Spain. This is for a chance to compete for gold in the final.
Wheelchair basketball: Canada lead GB 32-26 in the third quarter of the men’s quarter-final match.
Table tennis: Will Bailey of ParalympicsGB has done the necessary and won his singles match – now it’s the turn of Paul Karabardak, who faces Valera of Spain.
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Boccia: Channel 4 are now showing the medal ceremony for ParalympicsGB’s David Smith, who hit back from 2-0 down in the gold medal match to take gold, and now some quotes from the man himself:
“I think it’s massively important [the exposure for Boccia on live TV] ... we’ve had sellout crowds but no live [coverage] ... my Twitter and Instagram have been buzzing. We’ve seen some quality matches this week, not just from myself ... I hope this inspires people to give it a go. It’s quite a cool game, it can be very intense ... it’s great, I’ve loved the tournament, Tokyo has been amazing, the volunteers have been amazing, and it’s the best venue I’ve ever played Boccia on. Buzzing to get back on The Last Leg again, hint hint ...”
Chew Wei Lun (China) took silver and Jose Carlos Chagas de Oliveira (Brazil) won bronze. Well done to all.
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In pictures: Some of the best photos from day eight of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. Some brilliant shots in there, including this one of China’s Zhu Dening:
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Men’s wheelchair basketball: In the final minute of the second quarter of this quarter-final, Canada have forged a four-point lead against GB, they are 30-26 up.
Archery: Celebratory chocolate cake is on the menu today for Victoria Rumary, who took a bronze medal for ParalympicsGB earlier, in the women’s individual W1 class. Rumary defeated Lia Coryell of the USA, 131-123, bouncing back from a 127-107 defeat by Sarka Musilova of Czech Republic. Chen Minyi of China triumphed against Musilova in the gold medal match, 142-131.
"My coach said I can have some chocolate cake tonight after the competition. Now I’ve got my medal she said ‘yeah you can finally have your cake’, so I’m looking forward to that"
— ParalympicsGB (@ParalympicsGB) September 1, 2021
A Paralympic medal on your Games debut... have a slice on us, Victoria 🥮#ImpossibleToIgnore
Men’s wheelchair basketball: GB are taking on Canada, and they are locked at 20-20 in the second quarter. Canada led 16-14 after the first.
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Men’s cycling: Via the official Paralympics site, some quotes here from the French para-cyclist Florian Jouanny, who was victorious in the H1-2 road race earlier today. He also won bronze in the H2 time trial yesterday: “It’s a huge emotion because I was dreaming about it and I make it today, so it’s just the best day of my life,” said the 29-year-old. “I came to Tokyo and my goal was to get one medal, so that’s just amazing I got a gold medal, bronze medal and we will have the relay with my French colleagues so we are expecting as well a medal, so it’s just amazing.”
Tomorrow, Jouanny will aim for a third medal of the Games in the Mixed H1-5 Team Relay.
Swimming: Karolina Pelendritou of Cyprus has just won gold in the women’s SB 11 100m Breaststroke, with Jia Ma of China taking silver and Yana Berezhna (Ukraine) winning bronze.
Now another match point for GB at 15-14. Their fifth. Predictably, Spain save it ... and another astonishing rally ends with a match point for Spain ... and Spain take it! 17-15 in the deciding game. Wow. That means Bailey and Karabardak need to win their singles matches if they are going to move into the gold medal match.
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The table tennis is live on Channel 4 and it’s seriously exciting. Spain throw away serve and match point for 12-12, and Bailey and Karabardak have another match point at 13-12.
Men’s table tennis: 2-2 and 10-10 now as GB miss a match point! ... and now a match point for Spain! And now 11-11. This is tense.
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Men’s table tennis: Paralympics GB are in action against Spain in the Classes 6-7 semi-finals. William Bayley and Paul Karabardak v Jordi Morales and Alvaro Valera: it’s 2-2 in games and 9-6 to Spain who’ve just won five points in a row ...
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If badminton is your thing then it’s all going on right now. Four matches are in progress, and I’ll update as soon as the results start coming in.
David Smith wins Boccia gold!
GOLD for David Smith in the Boccia! He had to come from 2-0 down, following an impressive start from the Malaysian Chew Wei Lun, but after eking out single-score victories in games two and three, Smith won it in the fourth. With four balls of six left to play for both competitors Smith made a botch shot, knocking his own leading ball out of contention.
He was clearly frustrated but bounced back immediately, switching from underarm to overarm and nestling his next shot against the jack, and letting loose a defiant roar. Jun managed to nudge Smith away with his next throw, but then – overarm again – Smith both edged his third ball back into prime position and nestled his fourth in front of Jun’s as well. Jun could not find the necessary alchemy in his remaining shots and Smith claimed two decisive points with one throw still to go. Champion!
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Women’s doubles wheelchair tennis: The Netherlands and Japan have just concluded their semi-final on Centre Court at Ariake Tennis Park – the Dutch duo Diede de Groot and Aniek van Koot won in straight sets against Yui Kamiji and Momoko Ohtahni, 6-4, 6-2.
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As Emma mentioned earlier, there has been controversy regarding the men’s shot put F20 class final yesterday, with three athletes disqualified after the event for being late. Here’s the story from AP:
Malaysian shot putter Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli appeared to have won gold in the shot put in the F20 class but after his victory on Tuesday, he was disqualified because he had arrived late for the competition. International Paralympic Committee spokesman Craig Spence said Zolkefli and two others — Todd Hodgetts of Australia and Jordi Patricio Congo Villalba of Ecuador, neither of whom reached the podium — were allowed to compete under protest after they failed to appear on time for the event.
“They were late, they may have had a logical reason for being late, and therefore we allowed them to compete and look at the facts of the matter afterward,” Spence said. A statement from World Para Athletics, which governs track and field for Para sports, said a referee had determined after the event that “there was no justifiable reason for the athletes’ failure to report” on time. It said an appeal was also turned down. The disqualification bumped Maksym Koval of Ukraine up to gold, and Ukraine teammate Oleksandr Yarovyi took silver. Bronze went to Efstratios Nikolaidis of Greece.
Spence said the disqualification was met with anger on social media. He described it as “very abusive.” Much of it targeted the Ukrainians. “We are now seeing comments on all our social media posts that have nothing to do with the men’s shot put F20 event,” Spence said. He said the Ukrainian Paralympic Committee “was getting a lot of abuse from Malaysians.”
“I’m sorry. Rules are rules,” Spence said. “The decision was taken. It wasn’t the Ukrainians fault that the Malaysian was late.” Spence said the three had arrived three minutes late. He said he did not see this as a harsh penalty. “Others get there five minutes early,” he said. Spence said an excuse given was that the Malaysian and the two others said they “didn’t hear the announcement or it was in a language” they did not understand. The F20 class in shot put is for athletes with an intellectual disabilities. The Associated Press attempted to reach the Malaysian delegation through an email address provided by IPC officials. There was no immediate response on Wednesday. (AP)
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Olivia Breen, who won bronze for Paralympics GB in the T38 women’s long jump yesterday, has tweeted her delight at claiming a medal after years of hard work:
“From Rio where I came twelfth, not making the final, to now coming 3rd – the message I will give out to people is never to give up, your time will come. It may have taken me 10 years, uprooting my life, home and moving coaches but I made it to this moment.”
About yesterday 😁😁😁 pic.twitter.com/PnSug0YxWB
— oliviabreen (@BreenOlivia) September 1, 2021
Men’s swimming: Carlos Daniel Serrano Zarate of Colombia claims gold in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB7. RPC’s Egor Efrosinin wins silver, Australia’s Blake Cochrane takes bronze.
Men’s wheelchair basketball: Germany won the fourth quarter against Spain in their quarter-final, by a score of 20-17, but that wasn’t enough to overhaul the lead that Spain built up in the first and second quarters. Spain progress to the semi-finals with a 71-68 victory.
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Ruslan Kusnetsov wins H3 road race gold!
I wasn’t able to see it live, but it sounds like a thrilling finish to this one: both Ruslan Kuznetsov (RPC) and Heinz Frei (Austria) finish the race in a time of 2 hr 34min 35sec, with the Russian taking gold. Walter Ablinger (Austria) wins the bronze medal, 31sec behind the gold and silver medallists.
Jetze Plat wins H4 road race gold!
Complete dominance from the Dutchman Jetze Plat, who finishes 5min 43sec ahead of his closest challenger, Thomas Früwirth of Austria, after the 79.2km race. Alexander Gritsch gives Austria two places on the podium by winning bronze, 7min 25sec behind the winner.
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Beth Moulam said she is “living my dream” as she prepares to make her Paralympic bow 21 years after being inspired by the Sydney Games. Moulam, from York, has cerebral palsy and will compete for Great Britain in the boccia pairs competition at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre from Thursday.
The 27-year-old will do so just days after graduating from the University of York – which she did from her room in Tokyo – with a degree in social policy. “I was six when I first watched the Sydney Paralympics in 2000,” Moulam said. “I was captivated by watching the cerebral palsy sprinters, and then when I heard Caroline Baird (née Innes) interviewed I knew I wanted to be on that world stage. Caroline has cerebral palsy too and a speech impairment, it made me realise that if she could achieve in life, so could I.”
Moulam was unsure which sport she would pick, but at the age of 10 got the chance to take part in the Surrey Youth Games. Despite never having heard of boccia, she was hooked after just two short training sessions - but it took some motherly initiative to keep the journey going. “I hadn’t realised just how fiercely competitive I was until then,” she said. “I wanted to continue to play... there were no local clubs, so my friend’s mum and mine set up a club for us - ‘Boccia Epsom and Ewell.’ From there there was no turning back for me. Boccia became an all-consuming passion.” (By Max McLean, PA)
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Men’s road cycling: In the H3 road race, Ruslan Kuznetsov (RPC) has struck out on his own from that previous leading group of four. At the intermediate check at 66km, he is alone in front with two chasers 28sec behind: Heinz Frei (Switzerland) and Walter Ablinger (Austria).
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I am feeling quite emotional after the first gold medal contest at the Boccia this afternoon. I’m here to watch David Smith, who’s up next for ParalympicsGB against Malaysia’s Chew Wei Lun in the BC1 class, but the first match of the day was for athletes with the most severe physical impairments, who use plastic pointers to delicately, and with great dexterity, push their balls down a slope with their mouths. The match was a nail-biter.
The Greek athlete Grigorios Polychronidis found himself 3-0 down after the first round to the Czech Adam Peska, who played with consistent precision throughout. But with some tactical smarts (including blowing the jack out of play on the third game in order to extricate himself from a challenging position) and clever angles, Polychronidis won the next three games 1-0 to take the match to a final, extra round.
Sadly for Polychronidis all that good work was undone at the last, as Peska’s second to fifth efforts (you get six per game) all placed his red colour closest to the jack. As the Greek’s final effort failed to shift Peska, he was obviously distraught, but you could only tell his distress from the slightest movements on his face. It was hard not to feel a bit tearful.
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Men’s road cycling: Jetze Plat of the Netherlands is powering to victory in the H4 road race: at the final intermediate check, at 66km, he leads Thomas Früwirth (Austria) by 3min 2sec, with Alexander Gritsch (Austria) in bronze medal position, 5min 37sec behind Plat. Jonas van der Steene of Belgium is challenging for a medal, however, only 21sec down on Gritsch.
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Men’s wheelchair basketball: Spain lead Germany 71-68 in the fourth quarter of their quarter-final match at the Ariake Arena.
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Meanwhile, in women’s goalball, Japan defeated Israel 4-1 in their quarter-final. China v Brazil and USA v RPC (Russian Paralympic Committee) are still to come today.
In the H3 road race, which is the same distance as the H4, 79.21km, there is a leading group of four rider at the latest intermediate check at 52.8km: Walter Ablinger (Austria), Vico Merklein (Germany), Heinz Frei (Switzerland) and Ruslan Kuznetsov (RPC). Ryan Piney (USA) was chasing, just 10 sec back.
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In the Men’s H4 Road Race, Jetze Plat of the Netherlands is out in front: at the latest intermediate time check, which came at 52.8km out of 79.21km, he led Thomas Früwirth of the Netherlands by 21 sec.
Plat has already won triathlon and time trial gold at these Games, so if he holds this lead until the finish of the road race, that would make an unprecedented treble.
“It’s certainly not impossible,” he said after winning yesterday’s time trial. “I feel I am ready and am in good shape. First now focus again on the recovery. Back to the hotel and lay down on the bed as soon as possible and tomorrow we start again. Luckily tomorrow everybody is almost dead, so that’s a bit better for me maybe.”
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The schedule on the official Paralympics site can be found here.
Coming up over the next few hours, there are some big events at the athletics, including a number of 100m and 400m finals. Based around the Fuji International Speedway, the men’s H4 and H3 road races are currently ongoing. I’ll start by getting a handle on what’s going on in those ...
Thank you Emma, and hello everyone. There is plenty going on at the Paralympics today – as always – and there is a breakdown of the key events in Martin Belam’s briefing which went out yesterday (several of which have already taken place, but it’s a decent place to start!).
I’m now going to hand you over to Luke McLaughlin, who will see you through the rest of this session. See ya.
Goalball: Looks like this is the end of the road for two Belles players in Meica Horsburgh and Jennifer Blow.
“I think Meica and probably won’t be in Paris,” Blow told the Seven Network. “This is probably our last Games. But the future, it’s bright in Australia for goalball, and I hope we have inspired some people to take up the sport and be the next Aussie Belles.”
This is quite impressive.
A reminder of @OksanaMasters' medal tally... add another #ParaCycling #Gold to that! @TeamUSA #Tokyo2020 #Paralympics https://t.co/3Ddb1cIqac
— Paralympic Games (@Paralympics) September 1, 2021
Wheelchair tennis: Great Britain’s Alfie Hewett is up a set in his men’s quarter-final against Frenchman Nicolas Peifer. As it stands it’s 6-3, 4-4. On serve.
This pair are the second on centre court so it will be some time before the quad doubles bronze and gold medal matches. GB’s pairing of Andy Lapthorne and Antony Cotterill play Japan’s Mitsuteru Moroishi and Koji Sugeno for the bronze while Australians Dylan Alcott and Heath Davidson face Dutch combo Sam Schroder and Niels Vink thereafter.
Athletics: There was controversy in the men’s F20 shot put on Tuesday night. Australia’s Todd Hodgetts was one of three athletes in the standing event for athletes with intellectual impairment who were listed as “did not start” after officials said they had arrived late to the call room before competition.
Hodgetts, Malaysia’s Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli and Ecuador’s Jordi Patricio Congo Villalba competed under protest. Ukraine’s Maksym Koval won gold.
On Wednesday, and despite protests from Paralympics Australia and their counterparts, World Para Athletics released a statement confirming the “did not start” categorisations would stand:
The three athletes from Australia, Ecuador and Malaysia who competed in the men’s shot put F20 final under protest had their appeal rejected by the World Para Athletics Jury of Appeal.
The decision was based on World Para Athletics Rule 5.5 – ‘Failure to Report to the Call Room’ which states that in case athletes are not present in the Call Room at the relevant time as published in the Call Room schedule they will be shown in the results as DNS (Did Not Start).
In accordance with this Rule, the athletes were allowed to compete under protest while the Referee considered all the evidence as to why the athletes were late to the Call Room. Having considered the evidence, the Referee determined that there was no justifiable reason for the athletes’ failure to report to the Call Room on time.
The athletes appealed this decision to the Jury of Appeal, who gave the teams the opportunity to present all the relevant information before making its final decision. The Jury of Appeal upheld the Referee’s decision and confirmed the athletes’ results as DNS.
On Tuesday night Hodgetts, a 33-year-old Tasmanian who won gold and bronze medals in London and Rio respectively, said: “Life is not over at all and I’m going to keep going because I put my body on the line. It’s not over. Shot put means everything to me, it saved my life. All those knockers out there who kept knocking me, I came back and represented my country.”
In late July, as soon as Emma McKeon won the first of her four gold medals at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, she was guaranteed a $20,000 bonus. Last week, when another Australian swimmer, Lakeisha Patterson, did the same thing at the same venue, she received nothing. The difference? One was competing at an Olympic Games, and the other a Paralympics.
It is through no fault of her own that McKeon is both able-bodied and highly decorated enough to qualify her for the Australian Olympic Committee’s lucrative cash prizes. The AOC simply has the money to reward its athletes while its para-counterpart, Paralympics Australia, does not.
Road cycling gold for USA
Oksana Masters has done it, and she had the American flag draped around her shoulders long before China’s Sun Bianbian appeared around the bend. Italian Katia Aere crossed in third though her compatriot Ana Maria Vitelaru was one of two who did not finish alongside German Andrea Eskau.
Note to self: I should ask who does the music programming at Tokyo 2020. Every venue has a slightly different soundtrack before play gets under way, from the Las Vegas-style atmosphere at the powerlifting to the heavy squealing metal of the wheelchair rugby. I’m at the boccia today to see Britain’s David Smith in the BC1 gold medal match, and here the warm-up is all futuristic movie soundtrack, Vangelis-style. All of it seems to suit so far, I am impressed.
Updated
Road cycling: The men’s H4 has started and Australia’s Allen Grant is in the mix.
Sitting volleyball: China are turning the screw on Rwanda, up two sets and well ahead in the third. This is the final match of Pool B, which is led by said Chinese team. Rwanda are bottom, so clearly no upset on the cards here. Top two teams progress to the semis. USA are second and Russian Paralympic Committee third.
Shooting gold for Serbia
Hello all, have we all caught our breath after the goalball? Yes? Great. Let’s quickly catch up on some shooting.
Serb Dragan Ristic has gone big in the men’s mixed 10m air rifle prone SH2, claiming gold in a Paralympic-record total of 255.5. Ukraine’s Vasyl Kovalchuk has silver and Slovenia’s Franček Gorazd Tiršek bronze.
And with that, I’ll leave you in the capable hands of my colleague Emma Kemp.
Goalball: And that’s it for Australia’s Belles, despite a rousing second half against the defending Paralympic champions Turkey. The Turkish celebrations are joyous as they move into the semis, but it’s the end of the road for the valiant Belles, who eventually go down 10-6. But a tremendous showing from the Australians, who not only won their first Paralympics match in 25 years at these Games, they reached the quarter-finals - a remarkable achievement.
Sitting volleyball: It’s still the preliminaries stage at Makuhari Messe Hall, and in China’s clash with Rwanda, it’s the Chinese team who are dominating the opening set. Already on the winners’ board today are Brazil, who registered a 3-1 win over Italy earlier.
Goalball: Horsburgh scores her fourth for the Belles, to make it 9-5! Are Australia still in this quarter-final, with about just under four left? Another couple of quick-fire goals and they could well be.
Goalball: It looks like Turkey have scored again here but it’s ruled out as the ball landed beyond the neutral zone. Meica Horsburgh takes full advantage to find the back of the net on the penalty and instead of it being 10-3 to Turkey, it’s 9-4. That’s Horsburgh’s third of the day.
Updated
Gold for Jenette Jansen (NED) in road cycling
Road cycling: The 53-year-old Dutchwoman crosses the line in a time of 56min 15sec to collect the gold medal - her 10th Paralympic medal, but not her 10th in cycling. She’s won six in athletics and one in wheelchair basketball, along with three now in para-cycling. Incredible really. Six seconds back, Annika Zeyan of Germany bags silver and Alicia Dana of the US, a further three seconds behind, bronze.
Goalball: To some live action, and let’s check in at Makuhari Messe Hall, where Australia’s Belles are playing Turkey, who lead 7-3 with just over eight minutes remaining in the second. “Quiet please” is the regular call from the umpire - absolute silence is required in this sport, as players are blindfolded and rely on hearing the noise the ball makes.
The Belles’ story is a remarkable one - here’s my colleague Emma Kemp on it:
Wheelchair tennis: We have players on court in the tennis, and not only that we have our first results of the day - Great Britain’s Gordon Reid has roared back from a set down in his men’s singles quarter-final against Gustavo Fernandez of Argentina to win 5-7, 6-3, 6-1. A bit earlier, Shingo Kunieda of host nation Japan beat Frenchman Stephane Houdet of France 7-6(7), 6-3. Australian heroes Dylan Alcott and Heath Davidson are u p later on in their quad doubles gold medal match, after GB’s Antony Cotterill and Andy Lapthorne play for bronze.
Road cycling: There’s still plenty of action on the Fiji Speedway circuit to come - indeed the women’s H5 and H1-4 races are under way - but already two golds have already been decided today: Mitch Valize will take a gold medal back home to the Netherlands after winning the men’s H5 road race, while France’s Florian Jouanny won the men’s H1-2 road race.
Boccia: Over at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre, Daniel Michel added a bronze to Australia’s collection with victory over Great Britain’s Scott McCowan in the men’s BC3 individual event. The Sydneysider’s victory was just the second boccia medal Australia has ever won - and the country’s first individual medal in the sport.
“I’m excited with it. The first [boccia] medal for Australia in 25 years. First ever individual medal, so it’s a massive achievement,” Michel said. “I’m super happy to respond from the adversity yesterday with the tough game. To come through in that fashion was really important to me. I’m happy I was able to pull it out.”
Archery: Let’s run through some medals now, starting with the bows and arrows at Yumenoshima Park, where we have a new Olympic women’s individual W1, 15-arrow champion in the shape of China’s Minyi Chen, who beat Šárka Musilová of the Czech Republic in the gold medal match. Silver for Musilová means she goes one better than the bronze she won in Rio. Great Britain’s Victoria Rumary picked up bronze in her match against Lia Coryell of the US.
Before we recap on the day’s big medals, time first to take our daily look at the best pics from Tokyo.
Preamble
Hello and welcome back. We’re past the halfway stage of these Games, but the sport is unrelenting. Here’s what’s still to come on day eight in Tokyo, courtesy of my colleague Martin Belam.
All events are listed here in local Tokyo time. Add an hour for Sydney, subtract eight hours for Dundee, 13 hours for New York and 16 hours for San Francisco.
🌟If you only watch one thing: 6pm Badminton – incredibly there are still sports having their first day, and on Wednesday badminton takes a bow. Indeed it is a new sport making its Paralympics debut. There are 22 group stage matches, and overall there are 14 different competitions – including athletes in wheelchairs (WH1 & WH2), those of short stature (SS6), those with lower limb impairments (SL3-SL4) and those with upper limp impairments (SU5). The majority of the finals are on Saturday 4 September.
- 12:30pm Wheelchair basketball – the men’s competition hits the quarter-final stage: Turkey v USA in underway and will be followed by Spain v Germany, Great Britain v Canada at 6.15pm and Japan v Australia to finish the day.
- 3.05pm Boccia – there are four bronze medal play-offs and then four finals today, including one for Britain’s David Smith 🥇
- 9.30am Cycling Road – essentially there are six races on Wednesday that go off in three slots. The men’s H5 and men’s H1-2 are already done and dusted. The women’s H5 and H1-4 are in progress. The men’s H4 and men’s H3 start at 2.15pm and 2.20pm. All the road races take place on a 13.2 km circuit that starts and finishes at the Fuji International Speedway. It’s lumpy and there’s a 3.5 km climb up to the finish line. The number of laps will vary between the classes 🥇
- 1:45pm Shooting – one of the main events - the final of the mixed 10m air rifle prone SH1 - has been contested, while the SH2 category is at 1.45pm 🥇
- 2pm Table tennis – Wednesday is semi-final day in the team table tennis – there are 20 (yes, 20) matches to enjoy. It means that 20 teams will be going forward to the finals – and that 20 teams today will be leaving Tokyo with a bronze medal – there are no third-place play-offs in the table tennis 🥉
- 11am Wheelchair tennis – it’s the men’s singles quarter-finals, the semi-finals in the women’s doubles, and the quads doubles has both the bronze medal play-off and the final 🥇
- 1.15pm Goalball – it is quarter-final day for the women: Turkey v Australia, Israel v Japan, China v Brazil and the US v Not Russia.
- There are also two sessions as usual for swimming (5pm) with 15 medals and athletics (7pm) with 17 medals, and the weather looks to be cooling so that the wheelchair tennis might stick to its schedule.
