China continues to assert dominance at World Wheelchair Fencing Championships

TERNI, Italy — Friday was a day for team events at the World Wheelchair Fencing Championships and it was China who claimed success winning both events.

The home fans were especially disappointed by the men’s sabre loss which saw Italy defeated by China. It looked like it was going to be a dominant win for the Chinese fencers when Edoardo Giordan coming in to face Yanke Feng 20-2 down. Giordan claimed 21 points to pull Italy back into the contest.

But that was as good as it would get as Chinese fencers Yeng Cheng, Li Hao and Feng pulled away to claim the world title.

The bronze medal match was also a European v Asian battle. This time it was the Europeans that came out as victors. The French team of Ludovic Lemoine, Maxime Valet and Serge Robin claimed victory over India.

China claimed the other team gold of the day with a tighter win in the women’s team epee. Thailand fought hard but fell to a 45-43 scoreline to the defending Paralympic champions.

Xufeng Zou led the team, fresh from claiming the individual world title in the A category, winning all of her bouts. The B category winner, Saysunee Jana, pulled Thailand back into the bout to make it a close finish but couldn’t do enough to overcome the deficit.

France couldn’t get a double bronze as they fell to Hungary in the bronze medal bout, allowing the Hungarians to finish in the same position as four years ago. There were seven lead changes before Hungary finally pulled away through Amarilla Veres to claim a 45-37 win.

Saturday will see competition continue with the women’s foil and men’s epee individual events.

Eva Aarsjoe claims combined World Championship

ESPOT, Spain – The para alpine skiing World Championships moved to the combined races on Wednesday, with a broad swath of countries gaining gold medals.

Eva Aarsjoe (SWE) claimed the women’s standing event, dominating from the start. She claimed the win in the super-g backing up her win in that event on Tuesday. She then extended her lead, claiming gold by winning the slalom. She was the only skier in the classification to go under two minutes.

Chiara Mazzel (ITA) managed the same feat in the women’s visual impaired classification. She won the Super-G in a rapid 58.54. In the afternoon, she backed up to win the slalom and finish with a combined 1:59.95.

All three women’s classifications were won in sweeps, as Anna-Lena Forster (GER) easily won the women’s sitting event. She won her second gold medal of the meet, winning the combined gold by a margin of over 14 seconds.

Johannes Aigner (AUT) swept his classification after two close races. He claimed the super-g in 52.79 before backing up to win the slalom and the event by less than one second from Giacomo Bertagnolli.

Robin Cuche (SUI) won the men’s standing super-g to take a handy lead into the slalom. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t able to hold on. A blistering run from Arthur Bauchet of 53.15 in the slalom saw the Frenchman win the combined event. He finished over four seconds clear of Cuche, who just couldn’t hold on.

Jesper Pedersen (NOR) got quicker in the slalom after winning the super-g in the men’s sitting classification. He won the super-g in the morning in 54.4 before going even faster in the slalom, winning in 53.42. Despite those quick times, he was less than one second ahead of silver medalist Rene de Silvestro (ITA).

The world championship moves to giant slalom on Thursday before a rest day on Friday.

Featured image: Toni Grases/FIS

Italy tops World Para Swimming Championship

MADEIRA, Portugal – Italy claimed the number one ranking in the 2022 Para World Swimming Championships this weekend in Madeira. It was the second straight time the Italians finished on top of the medal tally, winning 27 gold medals.

The final of those medals came in the last event of the championships, the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay 34 points, breaking the world record with a time of 4:02.53. That saw Simone Barlaam and Stefanoe Raimondi claim their sixth gold medals, joined by Giulia Terzi and Xenia Palazzo on top of the podium for the event.

It was the second win for Baralaam and Raimondi of the night. Baralaam won the men’s 50m freestyle S9, equaling his world record. Raimondi won the men’s 100m backstroke S10 earlier in the day.

The USA had an excellent final day, claiming five gold medals to lift itself up to second place in the table. Leanne Smith completed a perfect week, winning her seventh gold medal after two more gold medals on the final day.

Brazil was third in the medal tally, managing 19 gold medals. Two gold medals, one to Gabriel Bandeira and the other to Mariana Ribeiro, pushed them into third.

Tully Kearney (GBR) set her third world record for the meet. This time it was the women’s 100m freestyle S5 with a time of 1:13:34. That will be something Kearney tries to continue on next year at the home world championships in Manchester.

Sweden clinches place in ice hockey qualifier thanks to shootout

OSTERSUND, Sweden — After a week of one-sided matches the final match of the Para Ice Hockey World Championship B Pool on Wednesday was a thriller. Forced to a shootout after a 1-1 draw, Sweden prevailed to delight the home crowd and book a place in the final Paralympic Games qualifier.

After overtime was scoreless the game went to a shootout, Rasmus Lundgren scored his shot before four straight misses. That left Mamoru Yoshikawa to take the final shot but he was denied by a save from Ulf Nilsson who kept his team’s hopes of Beijing 2022 alive.

China’s stunning rise in the sport continued as they claimed the B-Pool title after winning the C-Pool in 2018. It was comfortable work for China, beating Germany 10-2 in what was essentially the final but stamped that they could be a threat at their home Paralympic Games in five months. Zhi Dong Wang scored four goals in the win while Yi Feng Shen was the star with four goals and two assists.

Finland will remain in the B-Pool as they won a virtual relegation playoff against Poland 2-1. The win was Finland’s first in the sport since a 6-1 win over Australia in the C-Pool in November 2018. Harri Kangastie and Markku Vesikansa made it 2-0 in the first two periods, putting Poland against it. Two minutes from time Sylwester Fils scored to cap off a counter but it was too little too late as Finland won to relegate Poland.

Photo: Karl Nilsson/Parasport Sverige

Hosts Claim Gold in Final Day of Para Athletics World Championships

Mohamed Al Hammadi (UAE) in action. (Photo: IPC)

DUBAI – After winning a silver and a bronze, Mohamed Al Hammadi had been desperate for gold to give UAE its first gold of the Para Athletics World Championships in Dubai and at his pet event, the men’s 800m T34 he finally broke through in a thrilling race.

Maxime Montaggioni Makes up for Paralympic Disappointment with World Championship

Maxime Montaggioni at the 2018 Paralympic Games

PHYA, Finland – After missing the 2018 Paralympic Games due to injury Frenchman Maxime Montaggioni made up for his disappointment by claiming his second straight men’s SB-UL banked slalom at the para-snowboard world championship in Phya on Wednesday.

Latvia Remains on Top at World Wheelchair Curling Championships

Latvia in action at the world curling championships (Photo: World Curling)

STIRLING, Scotland, United Kingdom – Latvia has continued to impress at the world wheelchair curling championships. At the end of play on Wednesday Latvia was in a three-way tie for top spot with China and defending champions Norway. The other play-off places were held by Russia, Scotland, and Switzerland.

Andrea Liverani Ends Shooting Para Sport World Championships With World Record

Andrea Liverni celebrates his world record (Photo: IPC)

CHATEAUROUX, France – The world records continued to fall at the Shooting Para Sport World Championships in France on Saturday when Italian Andrea Liverani ended the tournament with a world record in the R5 (10m air rifle prone SH2) event.

Two World Records Set On Day Two At Shooting Para Sport World Championships

Scottie Brydon celebrates his world record (Photo: IPC)

CHATEAUROUX, France – Australian Scottie Brydon and Italian Roberto Cucinotta made history by breaking trap shooting world records at the Shooting Para Sport World Championships in France on Friday.

Two Teams To Make Ice Hockey Debuts At C-Pool World Championships

The Australian Para Ice Hockey squad (Photo: Australian Paralympic Committee)

VIERUMAKI, Finland – A three-team tournament has been set for the World Para Ice Hockey World Championships C-Pool which the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) announced on Friday would be hosted in Vierumaki, Finland in November. In exciting news, Australia and China will make their international para ice hockey debuts in the tournament.