David Smith, a wheelchair user from the United Kingdom, has won the individual boccia title at the Tokyo Paralympics with a thrilling victory over his Japanese opponent.
The paralympics 2020 is the upcoming Paralympic Games that will be held in Tokyo, Japan. David Smith of Great Britain retained his individual title with a thrilling victory.
Tokyo, Japan is the location. Time in Tokyo: BST +8 Dates: 24 August-5 September |
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After retaining his BC1 individual Paralympic boccia championship with a dramatic win in Tokyo, David Smith likened himself to Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo.
The 32-year-old was down 2-0 against Malaysia’s Chew Wei Lun after the first of four ends, but came back to win 4-2 for Great Britain’s 30th gold of the Tokyo Games.
Smith had previously compared himself to Ronnie O’Sullivan, the six-time world snooker champion, but claimed his final approach was more in line with the Portuguese forward.
“I like being creative and putting on a show,” Smith said. “I enjoy playing well but want to win, so I suppose you could put myself in that category.”
“I’m probably more like Ronaldo than Ronnie in that I’ll dig it out if I have to – and I work hard to achieve what I need to do.”
Smith now has five Paralympic medals and has surpassed Nigel Murray as the country’s most successful paralympic athlete.
Becky Redfern, who gave birth to her son Patrick little over a year ago, won silver in the SB13 100m breaststroke.
The 21-year-old was leading at the halfway point when she was passed by Elena Krawzow of Germany, who won by 0.64 seconds with a time of one minute 14.10 seconds.
With a tense 2-1 victory against Spain, Will Bayley and Paul Karabardak advanced to the table tennis class 6-7 final on Friday.
Sammi Kinghorn, a wheelchair racer, won bronze in the T53 100m in 16.53 seconds, finishing behind China’s Gao Fang (16.29) and Zhou Hongzhuan (16.48).
In the women’s W1 event, archer Victoria Rumary took bronze, while table tennis bronzes went to Sue Bailey and Megan Shackleton in class 4-5 and Ross Wilson, Aaron McKibbin, and Billy Shilton in class 8.
The Great Britain men’s wheelchair basketball team defeated Canada 66-52 in the second half of their quest to add Paralympic gold to their European and international championships.
Both reigning champion Gordon Reid and Rio runner-up and fellow Briton Alfie Hewett advanced to the men’s singles semi-finals in wheelchair tennis.
Because if Reid and Hewett lose their semi-finals, they will face each other in the bronze-medal play-off, Britain will be assured a medal in the event.
However, Andy Lapthorne and Antony Cotterill of the United Kingdom were defeated by Japan’s Mitsuteru Moroishi and Koji Sugeno in their bronze-medal match, losing 7-5 3-6 7-5.
Daniel Bethell got off to a winning start, defeating Japan’s Daisuke Fujihara 21-11 21-7 in the men’s singles SL3 class to become the first badminton player to represent the United Kingdom at a Paralympic Games.
The title of Super Smith is kept.
Smith has already won three gold medals in the Paralympic Games, earning a reputation for her colorful haircuts.
It was colored blue and red this time, after a blue mohawk in Rio five years ago and a red mohawk in Beijing in 2008.
After a shaky start, he stepped up against his younger opponent, who had won all five of his bouts to get to the final.
“I didn’t play very well, but I got across the finish line,” Smith remarked.
“A lot of things are running through my mind right now, including being the first BC1 to defend a Paralympic championship and becoming the most successful British player of all time.”
“You try not to worry about it, but it matters, and I am concerned about such things.”
“This is such a fantastic sport, and I just don’t think we’re getting the credit we deserve here, which gets me a little sad.”
In the BC3 bronze play-off, teammate Scott McCowan was defeated 6-1 by Australia’s Daniel Michel.
The men of Great Britain are guys of character and spirit.
The men’s wheelchair basketball team rallied from a 42-32 deficit with four minutes left in the third quarter to advance to their eighth consecutive Paralympic semi-final, where they will play hosts Japan on Friday.
With 22 points, Patrick Anderson kept Canada in the game, but Gaz Choudhry, who is leading the British squad in the absence of Haj Bhania, who was obliged to remain in the UK due to a positive coronavirus test, led his team with 21 points, 10 rebounds, and 14 assists.
Lee Manning (17 points, 19 rebounds) and Gregg Warburton also made significant contributions (16 points).
“We still have a lot of work to do, two more games is how we view it,” Warburton added. “We’ve made it to the semi-finals, which was our first goal.
“We’re displaying a lot of personality and energy. We think that we can defeat anybody no matter what circumstance we’re in. All we have to do now is keep believing.”
Keep an eye on the world.
Markus Rehm of Germany failed to break his own world record, but he still won the T64 long jump easily for the third time in a row.
The 33-year-old, who set a world mark of 8.62m at the European Championships in June, finished far clear of French runner-up Dimitri Pavade with an 8.18m performance in Tokyo (7.39m).
Jetze Plat of the Netherlands won his third gold medal of the Games in the H4 road event.
Plat completed the triple by winning triathlon gold on Sunday and handcycling gold on Tuesday, finishing five minutes and 43 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor.
Jennette Jansen, a teammate, broke a 33-year drought by winning gold in the women’s H1-4 road race.
Jansen, 53, earned three Olympic gold medals as an athlete in Seoul in 1988 and also competed in wheelchair basketball for her nation before moving to cycling.
Heinz Frei, a Paralympic veteran, won another another medal. The 63-year-old Swiss made his Games debut as a wheelchair racer in 1984 before converting to cycling and winning silver in the H3 time trial for his 27th Games medal.
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