Danielle Souza (BRA) in action on the way to winning the SH-1 title (BWF)
SANTIAGO, Chile — Much like the rest of the Para Pan American Games Brazil proved to be the most successful team in badminton in Santiago. Brazilian players won nine gold medals in a dominant performance.
Two gold medals came from the pair of Marcelo Conceicao and Rogerio Olivera both winning their singles and doubles titles. Conceicao won the WH1 men’s singles and WH1-2 men’s doubles and Olivera won the SL4 men’s singles and SL3-SU5 mixed doubles. The WH1-2 men’s doubles was guaranteed to be a Brazilian gold as Conceicao and partner Julio Cesar Godoy defeated fellow Brazilians Edmar Francisco Barbosa and Radolfo Renato Cano.
Yuki Rodrigues was the only other male winner, claiming the men’s SU5 men’s singles. Brazil swept the WH1 singles crowns with Daniele Souza claiming the women’s, the same holding true in the SL4 with Ana Carolina Reis completing the sweep. The other gold medals came from women’s singles through Abinaecia Silva (SL3) and Mikaela Almeida (SU5).
Two non-Brazilians claimed double gold with Peru’s world champion Pilar Jauregui claiming the WH2 women’s singles and WH1-2 women’s doubles with Jaquelin Burgos Javier. The other double champion was from the USA with Miles Krajewski claiming the SH6 men’s singles and the SH6 mixed doubles with Jayci Simon.
Chile also managed one gold through Jaime Aranguiz who defeated Godoy in the WH2 men’s singles final, denying Brazil another gold medal.
While there was no automatic qualification spot on the line for winning the Para Pan American Games, there were vital “Race to Paris” rankings points that will give the winners a significant boost.
TOKYO — Following on from Badminton yesterday, Taekwondo made its Paralympic Games debut on Thursday in another busy day of para-sport action at Tokyo 2020.
Morocco starts well in athletics
Photo: Joel Marklund/OIS
Morocco won two of the first six medals on offer on the track, the first coming in world record time as Abdesalam Hili winning the men’s 400m T12 in 47.59. The very next race on the track saw another Moroccan on the podium as Mohamed Amguoun was second, one second behind Skander Djamil Athmani (ALG) who set a new world record in the T13.
To top things off on the track there was an emotional moment in the women’s 200m T11 heats when after the race guide Manuel Vaz de Veiga (CPV) proposed to the woman he was guiding, girlfriend Keula Pereira Semedo who accepted.
Taekwondo makes Paralympic debut
Photo: IOS
Zakia Khudadai (AFG) who wasn’t sure if she’d be at these Games just days ago had the honor of scoring the first point in taekwondo in Paralympic Games history. It was two points with a body kick in the women’s K44 -49kg classification. It wouldn’t end up being much as Ziyodakhon Isakova (UZB) went on to win the bout.
Favourites were stunned in the categories today with Nathan Sodario Torquato (BRA) claiming the men’s K44 -61kg and Leonor Espinoza Carranza (PER) winning the women’s K44 -49kg after two Mongolian favourites didn’t even make the finals.
Table Tennis awards more team gold medals
Photo: Remy Gros
China sealed five gold medals in the team table tennis events in a day of perfection for the team that tops the medal tally. The last gold was the hardest fought, at 1-1 Germany seemed to be breaking the domination, up two games in the final singles tie. Zhai Xiang rallied and came back to win 11-4 in all three of the last games to clinch gold in the men’s class 3.
Things were easier in the men’s class 8 as China managed a 2-0 win over Ukraine, taking out the defending champions. The other ties went in a similar vein but Friday’s action will be tougher for China, missing out on a number of those finals.
It was a dramatic finish in the mixed 25m pistol SH1 as the silver medal was pushed to a shoot-off. After beating Sergey Malyshev (RPC) to assure a medal Szymon Sowinski (POL) then went to the next round and had another shoot-off, this time against Oleksii Denysiuk (UKR), and came through to win silver. The silver medal was Poland’s first Paralympic shooting medal of any colour.
The gold was defended by Huan Xing (CHN) who rode a near-perfect start to the final to take gold for the second straight Games.
Emotional results in cycling
Photo: Alex Whitehead
It was a very emotional day for Germany in the women’s cycling T1-2 road race at Fuji Speedway on Thursday. The gold was claimed by Jana Majnke, leading in teammate Dreock Kaeser, fulfilling Kaeser’s husband’s last words that the pair would win gold and silver.
The emotions continued in the mixed handcycling relay with Italy claiming gold-winning by 31 minutes in a dominant display. After the win, the Italians dedicated the win to teammate Alex Zanardi who remains in a serious condition following a road accident in 2020.
Sarah Storey (GBR) continued to dominate the women’s C4-5 classification, claiming her third straight gold, her teammate Benjamin Watson also claimed gold winning the C1-3, his second gold. Chen Jianxin (CHN) backed up his time-trial gold adding the road race in the men’s T1-2.
It was a perfect day for Japan as both players remaining in the singles draws advanced to the finals of their respective events. The first came in the men’s singles when Shingo Kunieda got revenge over Gordon Reid (GBR) for his loss in the same stage of the doubles event. That result will see him play Tom Egbrink (NED) in the final as the Dutch dominance continued with a stunning win over Alfie Hewett (GBR).
The story was the same in the women’s singles as Yui Kamiji stopped a guaranteed Dutch gold medal as she defeated Aniek van Koot in straight sets. That has set up a top seed duel in the final as she’ll take on the other Dutch legend, Diede de Groot, in the final for the seventh time this year. De Groot will have the edge having beat Kamiji five times.
Morocco nearly stun undefeated Brazilians
Photo courtesy IBSA Blind Foobtall
It was nearly the greatest upset in blind football history. Brazil, undefeated in Paralympic play, found themselves against Paralympic debutants Morocco in the semi-final, assuming an easy walk to another final. But Morocco set up defensively, holding Brazil at bay as their usually fluid play was stopped by strong defense and a very wet pitch.
At halftime, the scores were still level, and murmuring began around the Aomi Urban Sports Park that the unthinkable could happen. But halfway through the second half it finally happened, Jefinho’s shot got deflected by the Moroccan defense past their own keeper to give the Brazilians a lead they would never relinquish. Morocco pushed hard but it wasn’t enough as Brazil remained perfect.
Traditional rivals Argentina will await in the final, a rematch of the 2004 final and Argentina’s best result since those Games. Maximiliano Espinllo was the star scoring the lone goal of the semi-final in the second half to beat China 1-0.
Nemati wins again
It was a simple passage through to the final for Zahra Nemati (IRI) but the final was a different story as she was pushed all the way by Vincenza Petrilli (ITA) to win gold in the women’s recurve open for the third straight time.
Nemati won two of the first three sets, splitting the other, and seemed destined for another big win only for Petrilli to come charging back winning the next two sets to force a shoot-off. Petrilli hit an impressive nine with her arrow but it wasn’t enough as Nemati went one better to become Iran’s most decorated female Paralympian.
Upsets set up thrilling group stage finishes in badminton
Photo: BWF
It was a wild day in badminton’s second day as a Paralympic sport with upsets keeping things exciting as the group stage wraps up tomorrow. Most notably the men’s singles SH6 is wide open as all players finished with one win each.
The first win was a stunning upset as Krysten Coombs (GBR) stunned world No. 1 Jack Shepherd (GBR) in his first match. But he couldn’t capitalize on that win, easily defeated by Chu Man Kai 21-15, 21-10.
There was an upset by the hosts too as Japanese player Akino Sugino shocked Catherine Rosengren to seal her passage to the semi-finals. Zhang Jiang (CHN) had to save two match points before she overcame Cynthia Martinez (SUI) after dropping the first set in the women’s singles WH1. A marathon ensued in the women’s singles SL4 as Chanida Srinavakul (THA) took 40 minutes to beat Olivia Meier 22-20, 20-22, 21-13.
Japan seeking more boccia success
Photo: World Boccia
Thursday was a successful day for Japan on the boccia court as the team events continued finishing the day with a 2-1 record in the BC 1-2 team event. That comes after a gold in the singles to Sugimura Hidetaka boosted the hosts’ hopes.
In the other group, Thailand dominated winning all three matches to show why it is favoured to win the classification.
Defending champions eliminated in goalball semi-final
Photo courtesy IBSA Goalball
Lithuania’s tough tournament continued in the men’s goalball semi-finals as Brazil made light work of the defending champions, claiming a 9-5 win. It was a close first-half, Brazil leading 3-2 but the South Americans controlled things from there to power away to the win.
China will be waiting in the final for Brazil after they were far too strong, winning 8-1 on the back of six goals from Yang Mingyuan. Yang punished the Americans for giving away penalties scoring three of his goals from penalty throws. Those results make the bronze medal match a rematch of Rio’s final.
The USA made their first final since 2008 on the women’s side winning a thriller against Brazil that went to overthrows. After trailing 2-0 at the break Amanda Dennis came back and scored a brace, the second coming 15 seconds from time, to pull the USA to overtime. Mindy Cook became the hero, after not featuring in the match until the throw off she made the crucial save to send the USA through.
Turkey could defend the women’s title after they beat the hosts 8-5 in a stunning semi-final. Japan struggled in the group stage against Turkey by six goals and showed great improvement in the knock-out stages learning from the initial match but still, Turkey provided a professional outlook to win the match.
Iran men advance to defend semi-final gold medal
Photo: World Para Volley
An incredible performance from Meisam Ali Pour and Morteza Mehrzadselakjani led Iran to a sitting volleyball semi-final victory with the pair scoring 28 points. Iran dominated from start to finish powering to a straight-sets 25-16, 25-16, 25-17 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina to book passage to a second straight final.
RPC will be waiting in the final after Aleksandr Savichev starred with 30 points to send his side past Brazil 22-25, 25-21, 25-19, 25-19, and into its first gold medal match. RPC dropped the first set but learned from it and improved on serve, decreasing errors to get the win.
Debutants complete strong games
Photo: Lintao Zhang
Two swimmers in their first games claimed their third medals, Gabriel Araujo (BRA) claimed gold in the men’s 50m backstroke S2. He was joined as a debutant triple medalist by William Martin (AUS) who also claimed gold as his third medal winning the men’s 100m butterfly S9 with a world record swim of 57.19. It was a shock for Martin as he beat the world champion Simone Barlaam (ITA).
Another Australian broke a record in the men’s 100m backstroke S14 with Benjamin Hance winning with a Paralympic record of 57.73. Australia’s third gold came in the women’s 50m freestyle S4 as Rachel Watson defended her title in 39.36.
Talisson Glock (BRA) claimed his first gold in the men’s 400m freestyle S6 after winning his third medal following on from two bronze medals. The other first gold medalist was Zsofia Konoly (HUN) winning the women’s 100m butterfly S9 in a Paralympic record time of 1:06.55.
Dutch advance to first semi-final in 25 years
Photo: IWBF
After years and years of eliminations in the semi-final stages, the Dutch women’s wheelchair basketball team finally got through to the Paralympic gold medal match. It was a thrilling match as the Dutch finally got revenge on Germany for their last two eliminations.
It was a tight game with both teams struggling for offense in the early stages keeping it to a one-point game at half-time 26-25 for the Netherlands. In the final seven minutes Netherlands went on a 6-0 run to take the lead, from there they would never look back taking a 54-42 win. Mariska Beijer and Bo Kramer both managed double-doubles in the effort.
China used a strong second quarter to power past the USA to advance to the final. After trailing 9-6 at the end of the first China came back to take a five-point lead into half-time, that would be enough for China to hold on to for the win and set up a match against the Dutch.
John Twomey (back) in action Photo: Irish Paralympic Committee
Two nations have already announced their flag bearers for Rio with Peru and Ireland revealing their opening ceremony bearers on Thursday. Israel Hilario Rimas will be Peru’s flag bearer while John Twomey will bear the flag for Ireland.
Rimas will be coming in to Rio on form, as he has had a career best year in 2015 winning two UCI World Cup races. He claimed those wins in Maniago and Yverdon-les-Baines before he won the C2 category at the UCI World Championship road race in Nottwil.
That all gives Rimas a phenomenal opportunity at a medal, and should he claim gold it would be an historic achievement for Peru. The Peruvians have not won a Paralympic gold medal since Sydney in 2000, and haven’t won a single medal since 2004.
Twomey will be rewarded by Ireland for his long service to the Irish Paralympic Committee, as he will bear the flag at the opening ceremony. Twomey is entering his 11th straight Paralympic Games, competing as a sailor since 1996.
Rio will be Twomey’s last Paralympic Games and so the honor is part of what will no doubt be a long retirement party by Ireland for Twomey. Twomey won a gold medal in Seoul 1988, winning the old two category at the discus. He has since retired from athletics, retiring after Barcelona 1992 but the timing was perfect for the long-time sailor, who transitioned to sailing for Atlanta 1996 (when it was a demonstration sport), Twomey comes in with hopes of adding to his medal collection after coming third in the 2013 World Championship in the Sonar class along with partners Ian Costelloe and Austin O’Carroll.
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