Tokyo Paralympics: China surge to top of medal table, Russell and Dunn claim gold in pool – live!

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Tokyo Paralympics: China surge to top of medal table, Russell and Dunn claim gold in pool – live!

Wheelchair rugby: Great Britain with the break, leading the USA 22-20 with a couple of minutes to half time.

Powerlifting: Ukrainian gold for Mariana Shevchuk, who lifts 125 kg in the women’s -55kg division. Xiao Cuijan takes silver for China, Besra Duman bronze for Turkey.

Judo: A few medals going around, and Azerbaijan have won a third. All within about an hour tonight in Tokyo. Vugar Shirinli does the business in the men’s -60kg division.

Symmetry as Russia and Ukraine win bronze in the women’s -48kg (Viktoriia Potapova and Yuliiya Ivanytska respectively) and -52kg (Alesia Stepaniuk and Nataliya Nikolaychyk). The two bronze for the men’s -60kg go to Recep Ciftci (Turkey) and Alex Bologa (Romania).

Swimming: The medal rush keeps coming, with another battle at the front. Valeriia Shabalina won gold in the 100 fly on Wednesday, and takes another in the 200 freestyle S14. Takes the lead late from Bethany Firth. Jessica-Jane Applegate takes bronze to complete her set with silver and gold in the two previous Games. Ruby Storm finishes out of the medals for Australia.

Table tennis: Great Britain’s Thomas Matthews has won his Class 1 quarter final 3-1 against Italy’s Andreas Borgato.

Swimming: Gold medal No9 for Great Britain! He breaks his own world record by half a second in the 200m freestyle S14. Gabriel Bandeira of Brazil makes it a real race. He also swims inside Dunn’s previous world record, and threatens to take the race through the last 20 metres, huge strokes. Dunn has just enough left to beat him by a fraction, after Bandeira had beaten him in the 100m fly a couple of nights ago.

Swimming: First gold of the Games for Aoetearoa. And first gold of a career for 20-year-old Tupou Neiufi, in the 100m backstroke S8. She has a very brief career at major meets and has never won a race, until now. She is crying in the pool, overwhelmed. Jessica Long, winning bronze for USA, swims over to hug Neiufi and looks genuinely happy for her. Silver goes to Ukraine’s Kateryna Denysenko.

Swimming: Another world record in the pool, Robert Griswold of the USA beating the mark in the men’s 100m backstroke S8. Inigo Sanz Llopis (Spain) gets silver, Liu Fengqi (China) holds off Australia’s Jesse Aungles for bronze.

Wheelchair basketball: Great Britain’s men get whacked by Germany, 71-59. Third in the group now with one win and one loss, behind Germany with the same record. Australia the only team in that group to have two from two.

Swimming: In the same event for the S12 women, Hannah Russell defends her Rio gold! Not as convincing, two and a half seconds outside her world record swim from those Games, and Daria Pikalova threatens to take the medal for Russia in the closing metres after Russell led substantially through the first lap. She manages to hold her lead with a well-timed touch, ahead of Pikalova and Brazil’s Maria Carolina Gomes Santiago.

Swimming: Great Britain wins another medal with Clegg coming in third, less than a second behind Raman Salei and Ukraine’s Sergii Klippert in the S12 category.

Salei wins Azerbaijan’s second gold of the games. Not their first! Because only moments earlier, Shahana Hajiyeva won in the women’s -48kg judo. Two in a minute for Azerbaijan.

If you want to go further than the blog, and get the detail on whichever sport you’re especially interested in, here’s our interactive events page.

Related: Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games: full results

Here’s a good one on GB’s Lee Pearson, who swept to gold as one of the final riders last night.

Related: ‘Love has to prevail’: Pearson sends LGBTQ+ message of support after gold

Paul Mac has our eyes on the ground in Tokyo. He was at the lifting today.

Related: Power ballads and powerlifting: Newson misses Paralympic hat-trick | Paul MacInnes

Thanks Luke. Greetings once again. Can’t get enough Games. What’s on? Group matches continue for the goalball, sitting volleyball, and wheelchair basketball. The judo medal bouts for various classes have just begun. And recapping that only three matches in wheelchair tennis were possible today before the heat policy forced a delay.

Plenty of finals coming up, and some marquee team matches. All times are in Tokyo: plus one hour for Australia’s east coast, minus eight hours for the UK, minus years in prison for Majorca.

That’s all from me for now. Hope you’ve enjoyed the action as much I have. Geoff Lemon will take over from here.

Here’s our write-up of Kadeena Cox’s stunning triumph at the velodrome.

Related: Kadeena Cox wins cycling gold to kick off Paralympic multisport double bid

Cycling: Dorian Foulon of France takes gold in the Men’s C5 4000m Individual Pursuit Final over Australia’s Alistair Donohoe. Foulon went out fast and just kept going. In the qualifiers, Donohoe was way back on the top times but came roaring home to make the gold medal race. And the man with mullet tried the same tact again here, but Foulon was unstoppable. The Frenchmen is in tears as he rolls around the track, an incredible achievement at just 23 years old. Another nice moment as Foulon and Donohoe embrace post-race. Ukraine’s Yehor Dementyev takes bronze.

Cycling: We said earlier Jozef Metelka would be tough to beat in the Men’s C4 4000m individual pursuit, and he was just too good. The Slovakian takes gold in the final, beating Romania’s Carol-Eduard Novak. A great triumph for Metelka, who lost his leg in a motorbike crash in 2009. He backs up his gold from Rio. Novak, 45, also has an interesting backstory. He’s currently minister for youth and sport in the Romanian government and has won gold and silver at past Games. Novak grew up a speed skater, but lost his feet in a car accident in 1996. Bronze goes to Colombia’s Diego German Duenas.

Men’s wheelchair basketball: Half-time at Musashino Forest Sport Plaza, and Germany leads Great Britain 31-28. The Germans lost their first match, so they’ll be hoping to get on the board today. Britain breezed through Algeria in their first match.

Goalball: Over in the women’s goalball, China have beaten Australia 6-0.

Wheelchair rugby: Game over. Japan win, 57-53. The hosts looked assured throughout that match. Australia tried hard but once Japan got out to a lead, they didn’t look like giving it up.

Welcome to our British readers who might be waking up to the news that Kadeena Cox has won gold, defending her title from Rio, and breaking a world record in the process. It was a sensational effort – and it’s great to see some of you celebrating in the comments section. And of course, it’s not over for Cox. She’ll be up for the Women’s 400m T38 next week. Definitely one to watch out for.

An unwelcome first at the Games today as outdoor play at the wheelchair tennis has been suspended due to extreme heat. Matches outside of centre court will not resume play until 5pm JST (at the earliest) after wet globe bulb temperatures of 31.2 degrees celsius were recorded. That exceeds a limit of 30.1 degrees WGBT set earlier this year by the International Tennis Federation in order to secure the safety of players at Tokyo 2020.

Wet globe bulb temperatures take a greater account of humidity than conventional measures and are used as a guide to how safe it is for human beings to be outdoors.

Cycling: Jubilant scenes at the Izu Velodrome. Britain’s Kadeena Cox defends her title in the women’s C4 500m time trial. Cox’s support staff are ecstatic, embracing each other as she crosses the line. They knew she was on track for the win – and her time is a world record. What an effort from Cox. Canada’s Kate O’Brien wins silver, and Caroline Groot of the Netherlands takes bronze. Cox, who was a very promising able-bodied sprinter, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2014. She also holds medals in athletics, including a gold from Rio in the 400m. An incredible athlete.

Wheelchair rugby: Still close between Japan and Australia, but the hosts look very assured. They hold a three try lead (43-40) at three-quarter-time, and it’ll take something special for the Australians to turn this around. Australia’s Andrew Edmondson, who was in the Steelers’ gold medal winning team at Rio, went down hard in a collision at the end of that quarter, so let’s hope he’s okay.

Cycling: More medals on offer at the Izu Velodrome. It’s a field of 11 for the women’s C4 500m time trial. With four riders to go, China’s Jianping Ruan has the lead. New Zealand’s Nicole Murray is in second, while Alina Punina of the Russian Paralympic Committee is third. Reigning gold medallist, and multi-sport champ, Kadeena Cox, of Great Britain, is up soon.

We mentioned the men’s -59kg powerlifting before. Gold went to China’s Qi Yongkai, but an amazing moment, too, for Herbert Aceituno.

“Disability comes from the mind, not the body.”

Herbert Aceituno made history today, winning #bronze in the Men’s -59kg #Powerlifting and the 1️⃣st #Paralympics medal for El Salvador

The powerlifter proudly waved his country’s flag at the #Tokyo2020 #OpeningCeremony

Cycling: It’s all over in the Men’s C1-3 1000m time trial. China’s Li Zhangyu takes the gold, silver to France’s Alexandre Leaute, and bronze to Britain’s Jaco Van Gass. It was an absolutely quality competition: all three medal winners break the world record in their respective classifications. Another gold to China, and well done to Li Zhangyu –it’s the third time he’s won this event at the Games.

Cycling: Back to the men’s C1-3 1000m time trial. Jaco Van Gass, of Great Britain, is the second last cab off the rank here and it’s a quick time. He’s into the bronze medal position. Van Gass already has a gold from the C3 pursuit. An incredible effort once again. One rider to go: Team USA’s Joseph Berenyi.

Wheelchair rugby: Japan has eked out a one-point lead against Australia, 26-25, late in the second period. It’s end to end stuff at the moment and, as it often does in this sport, you suspect this match will come down to a few crucial moments.

Cycling: They’re flying at the velodrome now. Li Zhangyu of China blitzes past Alexandre Leute’s time, in the C1-3 1000m time trial, breaking the C1 world record as he does it. Could it be another gold for China?

Cycling: Over at the velodrome, they’re three quarters of the way through the men’s C1-3 1000m time trial. The way this works is that cyclists of varying impairment levels compete together, with their times adjusted depending on their classification. For some time, no one got close to the Russian paralympic committee’s Mikhail Astashov, who broke the C1 world record. That was until France’s Alexandre Leaute, a C2 rider, who backed up his gold in the individual pursuit yesterday with the top time here so far. It’s a C2 world record, too. Australia’s Gordon Allan is currently in the bronze medal position, with five riders remaining.

That’s four gold for China since our last medal tally update – and that update was only three hours ago. China has 12 gold medal in total now. Australia remains on seven, with Great Britain on six.

Powerlifting: What a day for China. In the women’s 50kg, China’s Hu Dandan takes gold with a best lift of 120kg, ahead of Rehab Ahmed of Egypt. Olivia Broome of Great Britain wins bronze, just edging out her nearest competitor by 1kg. Broome lifted 107kg.

Wheelchair rugby: A big match between reigning world champions Japan and gold medallists at Rio, Australia, has just gotten underway. Both teams are vying for top spot.

Men’s goalball: Japan absolutely bossed that match in the end, beating the United States 10-1.

Discus: The women’s F55 discus has drawn to a close. China’s Dong Feixia takes the gold, with a throw 26.64, ahead of Latvia’s Diana Latdadzite. Mexico’s Rosa Maria Uerroro Cazares takes bronze. An incredible effort also from Nurkhon Kurbanova, of Uzbekistan. She’s finished eighth here, but her throw of 20.40 is a world record in her classification (F54).

Men’s goalball: Japan are off to flyer against the United States, leading 6-1. Both teams have won their first game, meaning this clash may prove crucial in seeing who tops the group.

Powerlifting: In the 59kg category, a best lift of 187kg from Qi Yongkai of China is enough for the gold, ahead of Egypt’s Sherif Osman and El Salvador’s Herbert Aceituno.

Some (relatively) good news on the Covid-19 front today with the news that no athletes have tested positive for the virus. That’s the first 0 case day since August 19 when a number of teams were yet to arrive in the country. Official stats show the testing programme recorded 13 positive cases in total, with nine contractors testing positive and two representatives of the media.

It was also confirmed that the unidentified member of ‘Games-related personnel’ who was admitted to hospital yesterday is continuing to receive medical treatment today. Their condition is ‘not severe’ according to a Tokyo 2020 spokesperson.

Wheelchair rugby: Nail-biting conclusion here, with France keeping their chances of progressing alive. They win 54-52 against Denmark, in a closely fought match. Denmark were seeking a turnover with less than 30 seconds to go, but the ball just didn’t fall their way. Denmark, who shocked many with a first round win against reigning champs Australia, are now out of the tournament. They look absolutely shattered.

Staying with the athletics for a second, Australia’s Isis Holt has spoken after her silver medal performance just now. A former world champion and Paralympic silver medallist, Holt, 20, had come back from a break from the sport with the hope of adding that elusive gold medal to her haul.

“I wasn’t expecting a time like that today,” Holt said post-race. “It would’ve been awesome to win that final but that PB for me is insane. For me, that’s a world record, and, yeah, I couldn’t be happier.”

Athletics: Wow! China’s Xia Zhou comes flying out of the blocks and holds off Australia’s Isis Holt to claim gold in the Women’s T35. Zhou’s time of 13.00 seconds is a world record, beating the record time set by Holt in the heats. Holt’s time was also a personal best. Bronze goes to Great Britain’s Maria Lyle. It’s a season’s best time for Lyle.

Australia’s Amanda Reid spoke about the importance of being an Indigenous athlete after she won gold and broke the world record in the C1-3 500m category.

You can read more here.

Related: Amanda Reid breaks own world record to add another Paralympic gold for Australia

Wheelchair rugby: We’ve seen some very competitive matches so far, and this clash between Denmark and France is no different. The French are up 37-35 at the start of the fourth period. It’s a crucial match for both teams. The French have lost their first two matches, while Denmark have won one of two.

Athletics: Well, you would be happy after a time like that wouldn’t you. A bit earlier today, Norway’s Salum Ageze Kashafali broke the paralympic record in the heats of the 100m T12, with a blistering time of 10.46 seconds. T12 competitors have a visual impairment. Kashafali already holds the world record (10.45) and will no doubt be looking to go even faster in the final.

What’s your go-to victory dance?

Salum Ageze Kashafali #NOR put his skills on show after setting a new Paralympic record in the men’s T12 100m! #ParaAthletics #Tokyo2020 #Paralympics @ParaAthletics pic.twitter.com/YH4bblQvHR

Athletics: A great moment for Colombia here. It’s gold for Colombia’s Jose Gregorio Lemos Rivas in the F38 javelin, with a world record throw of 60.31m. His compatriot Luis Fernando Ucumi Villegas takes bronze, while Ukraine’s Vladyslav Bilyi wins silver. A tough day for Australia’s Corey Anderson, who was in the bronze medal position until the last round. Anderson went into competition with the world record to his name, but just couldn’t quite hit his stride today. Jayden Sawyer, also of Australia, finished in seventh.

Cycling: Over at the Izu velodrome, qualifying has wrapped up for the C4 and C5 4000m individual pursuit. In the C4, it’ll be Slovakia’s Josef Metelka going for gold against Romania’s Carol-Eduard Novak. Metelka looks like he will be tough to beat, having broken the world record in the heats and finishing about nine seconds faster than Novak.

And it was a nail-biting end to the heats in the C5 event, where Alistair Donohoe seemed to come from nowhere to qualify for the gold medal race. Donohoe, who sports a quite incredible mullet haircut, was well behind Ukraine’s Yehor Ementyev in their head-to-head heat, but took the lead in the last lap. He’ll go up against Dorian Foulon of France, who finished about two seconds faster than Donohoe, breaking the world record in the process.

Thanks Geoff. Hope you’ve all been enjoying the action so far, it’s been thrilling hasn’t it?

And Geoff said, there’s plenty going on at the moment, including medals being that are being decided as we speak, so let’s get into it.

Right then. Plenty of medal events in train at the moment: the women’s F55 discus, the men’s -59kg powerlifting, and the men’s F38 javelin, where Australia’s Corey Anderson (who is not the New Zealand cricketer) holds the world record but is currently in fourth place.

While they are all midstream, this may be my best chance to hand over to Luke Henriques-Gomes.

China leads the table with 8 gold medals. Australia is clear in second with 7, and Great Britain third with 6.

Related: Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games: full medal table

Athletics: In the standing shotput earlier, Tunisia’s first medal of the Games arrived thanks to Raoua Tlili’s world record throw of 10.55 metres.

Mayerli Buitrago Ariza got silver for Colombia, and Antonella Ruiz Diaz bronze for Argentina.

While turmoil continues in Afghanistan, here’s one of the many millions of lives affected by that war.

Related: Afghanistan war veteran Jaco van Gass wins cycling gold for ParalympicsGB

Swimming: A few updates from the heats for Australia and Great Britain.

In the men’s 100m backstroke S8, Jesse Aungles (Aus) is through.
Men’s 200m freestyle S14, Jordan Catchpole and Reece Dunn (GB) are through with, Liam Schluter and Ricky Betar (Aus), while Thomas Hamer (GB) didn’t start.

Long jump: Ishitile produces her best jump of the day to go from eighth to sixth, before Karlsson betters that and gets back up to sixth herself. Takada stays fifth. Spoladore Salvatini has a misfire that sees her nearly miss the sand on landing, but it’s a legal jump and she still managed 4.70, not far behind her day’s best.

That means the medallists are decided. Now for the order.

Athletics: Australia’s Sam McIntosh misses out on the final for the men’s 400m T52, which is one of the wheelchair races.

Long jump: Silvania de Costa de Oliveira goes top! Her fifth jump hits 5.00 metres and she’s into the gold medal spot. Mirzayorova already hit a PB to make that 4.89, so it’s a big ask for her to suddenly find another 12 centimetres on her next.

If you want a visual break, have a look at Day 2 (yesterday) in pictures.

Related: Tokyo Paralympics 2020: day two – in pictures

Cycling: A phenomenal ride from Reid, starting second last in the order. She watched China’s Qian Wangwei set a world record, with a real time of 41.403 and an adjusted time of 38.070. Reid knows that she needs to better that record to win. And she does.

Around the track in 38.487 real time, which adjusts to 35.581. A huge ride, and she takes gold.

Long jump: Salvatini Spoladore jumps her season best of 4.74, matching the jump of Chiaki Takada from earlier. Takada can’t improve on her own mark. So again those two hold their original positions in fifth and fourth.

Wheelchair basketball: Australia’s men beat Algeria 37-83 to go top of Group B with two wins.

Long jump: Eight jumpers in the final, approaching their fourth jump. Mirzayorova in the lead. Ishitile (Namibia) and Panyatib (Thailand) jump first but don’t improve on their eighth and seventh positions. Karlsson bails out of her jump after a distraction and is allowed to restart. Doesn’t top her earlier 4.44 though and stays sixth.

Women’s 100m: The T35 category is for athletes with coordination impairments, and Australia’s Isis Holt holds the world record with 13.43. She adds a Games record of 13.49 in winning her heat.

Qualifying behind her are Isabelle Ferder (Germany) and Oxana Corso (Italy).

Long jump: Salvatini Spoladore (Brazil) and Karlsson (Sweden) both foul on their third jumps. Pavlenko lands her jump, injury notwithstanding, and gets within 3cm of Mirzayorova before limping away again. The Uzbek doesn’t better her own first place jump of 4.89 on her next attempt, instead logging 4.64 metres.

Long jump: Uzbekistan and Ukraine in the top two spots so far, but Yulia Pavlenko in second comes up from her jump limping. Looks in trouble as she hobbles off. If so, Asila Mirzayorova tightens her hold on gold.

5000 metres: Karasawa Kenya of Japan puts on the afterburners with a lap to go, scorching past most of the field after having spent the race settled back in the back. He comes up to Jacques, but Jacques has bided him time and is able to kick coming into the last bend, where Kenya has already used his kick and instead drops away.

Gold for Brazil! Silver and bronze for Japan, with Wada Shinya coming up into third position.

5000 metres: Jacques is back to the lead now, Kiprop dropping to third.

5000 metres: The Brazilian runner Yeltsin Jacques has been leading up to the halfway mark, but Rodgers Kiprop of Kenya has come up to take the lead. Jacques drops in right behind and keeps on the pace at this stage.

Anyone looking for a bit of Straya! barracking in the Australian morning, the men’s wheelchair basketballers have steamed into half time with a 42-17 win over Algeria. Algeria, on the other hand, produced the writing of Albert Camus, which Australia really can’t rival. Honours even, then.

Did I miss the fencing, earlier? Yep, the wheelchair fencing has the team épée gold at the end of the day’s qualifying fights. And there are some rowing heats as well.

The men’s T11 5000 metres is about to start, while the long jumpers start off. These runners will race with a guide alongside them, tethered by the wrist.

Cheerful scenes at the track, where the competitors in the women’s T11 long jump are being introduced. This is the vision-impaired category, so they’re all wearing eyeshades and being accompanied out by an Olympic volunteer. As each name is read out to the crowd, the athletes are waving and smiling, some jumping up and down in anticipation of getting started.

The archery ranking rounds with the compound and recurve bows are being held this morning Tokyo time as well, setting up how the competition will unfold on later days.

Good day to you, whatever time it is and whatever place you’re in. The Tokyo 2020* Paralympics Day 3 of competition is underway. There will as ever be a very busy schedule across the venues of Tokyo.

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