China extend lead in Paralympic medals table after track success

PARIS – China began to exert their traditional dominance at the Paralympics in Paris on Aug 30, despite a double gold-medal success for British swimmers.

The Chinese, who have topped the medal standings at every Paralympics since Athens in 2004, finished the second day of competition with 12 golds, a performance that included three golds on the first day of the athletics programme.

Britain have much to celebrate after Tully Kearney, who has cerebral palsy, and Maisie Summers-Newton both retained their titles from the Tokyo Paralympics.

Kearney won the women’s 100m freestyle in the S5 category.

Summers-Newton, who was born with achondroplasia, a condition that affects bone development, finished first in the women’s 200m individual medley SM6.

“I was really nervous, it’s something that’s come from Tokyo,” said Summers-Newton, a qualified primary school teacher. “There’s a lot of pressure being Paralympic champion.”

Earlier, Zhou Xia won China’s first gold of the athletics events when she sprinted to the women’s 100m T35 title, for competitors with impaired coordination, in 13.58sec.

Di Dongdong added the men’s long jump title for athletes with visual impairment by smashing the world record with a 6.85m jump.

Wen Xiaoyan then clinched the T37 women’s 200m gold medal in 25.86sec.

In front of an enthusiastic Stade de France crowd of around 45,000 in the evening session, Brazil’s Petrucio Ferreira dos Santos, the fastest Paralympian in the world, won a third consecutive 100m title in the T47 class in 10.68sec despite a track dotted with puddles.

Ferreira, who at the age of two lost his left arm below the elbow in an accident with a grinding machine, won gold medals at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 and smashed the para-world record in 2022 when he posted a time of 10.29sec.

“I’m happy, lightning has struck for the third time at the Paralympic Games and I’m coming home with another medal,” he said.

“That’s three golds now at the Paralympics. It’s an emotion that’s hard to describe.”

The wheelchair tennis tournament began on Roland Garros’ clay courts under grey skies and morning rain.

A large crowd, including a sizeable Israeli contingent, filed into the Suzanne Lenglen court to support singles player Adam Berdichevsky against Italy’s Luca Arca.

After clinching a 6-2, 7-5 victory, Berdichevsky took an Israeli flag from his wife and three children and jogged around the court waving it.

During the Oct 7 attack on Israel, Berdichevsky, his wife and children hid in their house for several hours as Hamas fighters entered Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak, just over 3km from Gaza.

The family were eventually evacuated to a safe house.

He said the experience had given him a new perspective on life.

“I think it helps mentally because since then for me nothing is really important,” he added.

“If I lose, I lose. If I win, I win.”

Elsewhere, giant Iranian sitting volleyball legend Morteza Mehrzad, who is 2.46m tall, helped his country to a comfortable 3-0 win against Ukraine as they began their campaign for a fourth Paralympic title in five Games. AFP