- Results | Medal table | Full coverage
- Sign up for the Guardian’s daily Paralympics briefing
- Email, tweet @LukeMcLaughlin or comment below the line
Men’s table tennis: 2-2 and 10-10 now as GB miss a match point! … and now a match point for Spain!
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 …
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.
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!
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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).
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.
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.
Men’s wheelchair basketball: Spain lead Germany 71-68 in the fourth quarter of their quarter-final match at the Ariake Arena.
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.
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.
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!).
Related: Tokyo 2020 Paralympics briefing: Masters masterful and storied Storey
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
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.
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.
Related: Shock over bonus discrepancy leads to action for Paralympic medal winners | Emma Kemp
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.
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.
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.
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:
Related: Australia’s goalball team set for next chapter in ‘historic’ Paralympics run | Emma Kemp
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.
Related: Tokyo Paralympics 2020: day seven – in pictures
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.
