Tokyo Paralympics 2020 day two: swimming, cycling, wheelchair basketball and more – live! | Sport

Goalball: Leomon Moreno has just brought Brazil back on level terms early in the second half. Moreno is a pretty special player. He was the tournament top-scorer with 44 goals when his team successfully defended their world title in Sweden in 2018 and has been key to Brazil winning a medal at every major competition since London 2012. He scored three times in Wednesday’s 11-2 walkover of Lithuania.

Goalball: There’s a heated battle happening between the USA and Brazil men’s teams at the Makuhari Messe Hall. The US lead 3-2 after a first half that started with a penalty and ended with an own goal when Josemarcio Sousa sent the ball into his own net.

For those unfamiliar with this sport, goalball is played indoors by athletes with vision impairment. The object of the game is to roll the ball into the opponent’s goal while the opposing players try to block the ball with their bodies. Bells inside the ball help orientate the players by indicating the direction of the oncoming ball.

Table tennis: Australian Samuel Von Einem has just accounted for Korea’s Kim Gi-Tae 3-0. The 26-year-old, who has autism, is the Rio 2016 silver medallist in the men’s Class 11 singles and is well on the path again here.

I’m going to pass you on to my colleague Emma Kemp now. Enjoy the action to come!

Wheelchair rugby: USA vs Canada ends with a win for the Americans, 58-54. That’s their second win, and they look good to progress to the knockouts. The Canadians, who were very much in this contest, are zero wins and two losses so far. Fair to say the Americans are happy with this win: at full-time they form a circle and start chanting: “Who are we? USA. Who are we? USA.”

Women’s wheelchair basketball: Japan has defeated Great Britain 54-48, their second win from two matches.

Cycling: Back at the velodrome, Team GB is guaranteed a gold medal later today after securing the top two qualifying times in the Men’s C3 3000m Individual Pursuit. Jaco Van Gass posted the top time, ahead of Finlay Graham. In keeping with what we’ve been seeing these past two days, both recorded world record times. It’ll be a generational battle, as Van Gass, 35, takes on the 21-year-old Graham. Australia’s David Nicholas will race for bronze against Eduardo Santas Asensio of Spain.

My colleague in Tokyo, Paul MacInnes, has passed on this update.

Two more athletes have tested positive for coronavirus inside the Paralympic Village.

It takes the overall number of cases at the residential complex to 13, including five athletes.

Tokyo 2020 has confirmed there were 13 cases outside of the Village, including three Games-concerned personnel and 10 contractors.

One to watch out for later: Team USA’s 17-year-old Anastasia Pagonis will race for gold in the women’s 400m Freestyle S11, after breaking the world record in the heats earlier today.

Pagonis, who lost her sight at 14, now has nearly two million followers on Tik Tok, where she uses her account to normalise blindness. She’s vying for her first Paralympic gold.

Cycling: I hope Alexandre Laute savoured his time as the world record holder, because it’s over for now. Belgium’s Ewoud Vromant has qualified fastest in the Men’s C2 3000 individual pursuit, eclipsing Laute’s record time in the process. Those two will go head-to-head in what shapes up to be a very exciting final later today. Australia’s Darren Hicks and Guihua Liang of China will compete in the bronze medal race.

Hicks was disappointed to miss out on the gold medal race, but is hopeful he can leave the Games with bronze. “Look, before we flew here I said, “Any medal chance will be amazing,’” Hicks said post-race. “I can’t go back on that, that’s for sure. Fighting for a bronze is bloody awesome.”

For our Australian readers, a little bit of background about Darren Hicks. He had a lifelong love affair with BMX riding until the age of 29, when in 2014 he suffered severe leg and neck trauma in a horrific road accident. His right leg was amputated. Three months after the accident, he rode a bike against for the first time. Now 36, he’s competing at his first Paralympics.

Cycling: Thrilling stuff at the velodrome. Alexandre Laute, of France, beats the world record time just posted by Japan’s Kawamoto, in the C2 3000 individual pursuit. Riding against Laute in that heat was Australia’s Darren Hicks, who also went under Kawamoto’s time, meaning he’s sitting in second place and has a chance of racing for gold tonight unless his time is beaten in the final heat.

Women’s wheelchair basketball: Half-time between Japan and Great Britain, with the hosts leading 25-21. Great Britain are looking to bounce back after a tough first outing against Canada yesterday, while Japan are hoping to build some more momentum following a big win against Australia. Amy Conroy leads the scoring for Team GB with nine points.

Cycling: Cheers reverberate around the Izu velodrome as Japan’s Shota Kawamoto breaks the world record in the Men’s C2 3000m individual pursuit. We’re about halfway through qualifying here, with the fastest two riders competing for gold later today, and the next two fighting it out for the bronze. Australia’s Darren Hicks is coming up soon.

Wheelchair rugby: Wheelchair rugby action is underway and the day begins with a grudge match: After the first period, the USA leads Canada 17-16. Canada’s Zak Madell is starring with nine tries, while the USA’s Charles Aoki has eight. Wheelchair rugby is one of the sports at the Paralympics that allows people with different impairments to compete alongside and against each other. Each player is given a points classification based on their disability – and the four players on each team cannot exceed eight points.

Powerlifting: They’re three quarters of the way through the Men’s 49kg category and Jordan’s Omar Sami Hamadeh Qarada and Le van Cong of Vietnam are on top with best lifts of 170kg. Powerlifting at the Paralympics is a benchpress competition, with each athlete having four attempts.

Women’s wheelchair basketball: An easy 77-58 win for Germany over Australia in the end. A tough start to the Games for Australia’s Gliders, who’ve lost their first two preliminary round matches.

That’s a very very impressive effort from the US’ Gia Pergolini, 17, who is competing in her first Paralympics. She was diagnosed with Stargardt’s disease in 2014, causing progressive central vision loss during childhood. She’d been keen on lacrosse, soccer and gymnastics, but focused on swimming when she was diagnosed with Stargardt’s disease. “Once I started swimming for Para, I saw that there’s other kids with the same disability as I,” she has said previously.

“It opened my mind up more, and I started having a closer and closer relationship with Para swimming.”

Pergonlini will be going for gold in tonight’s final.

Swimming: And more records go. This time in the women’s 100m Backstroke S13. Australia’s Katja Dedekind breaks the paralympic record in heat one. And interviewed post-race she’s speechless. “That’s just awesome,” says Dedekind. But Dedekind says she won’t be surprised if that record falls in the second heat, and she’s right. Dedekind will go into tonight’s final second fastest, after the US swimmer Gia Pergolini broke the world record.

Swimming: The records are tumbling at the pool once again. The Netherlands’ Lisa Kruger beat the Paralympic record in heat one of the women’s 100m Breaststroke SB9. But it didn’t last long, with compatriot Chantalle Zijderveld beating own world record time in heat two. Australia’s Keira Stephens was delighted to also make it through to tonight’s final. It looks like the Dutch will be tough to beat.

Just summarising that medal event at the velodrome, the British at one stage looked like they may claim all three places as the time trial neared its conclusion. But the last rider of the event, but the Netherlands’ Larissa Klaassen (with pilot Inke Brommer) was just too good, eclipsing Aileen McGlynn’s time by about a second and a half. And Belgium’s Griet Hoet was good enough for third. Team GB’s Lora Fachie and Sophie Unwin finished in fourth and fifth. It’s a great triumph for Klaassen, who improves on her silver from Rio in the same event with a spot on the top of the podium.

Cycling: Larissa Klaassen wins gold for the Netherlands in the women’s B 1000m time trial. Silver goes to Great Britain’s Aileen McGlynn, while Griet Hoet of Belgium gets bronze.

Men’s wheelchair basketball: USA defeat Germany 58-55. What a game that was! Germany, who had been in front for most of the match, surrendered the lead to the reigning champs in the fourth quarter. From there it was a see-sawing contest. The Germans held possession in the final 10 seconds, but couldn’t hit the three pointer on the buzzer.

Men’s wheelchair basketball: Well, well, well. Team USA have come roaring back here against the Germans. The Americans have taken the lead (52-51) with two minutes left!

Cycling: They’ve kicked off at the Izu Velodrome in the women’s B 1000m time trial. This is today’s first medal event, and will see 10 tandems of a visually impaired rider and their pilot race for glory. With five riders to go, it’s Team GB in first (Aileen McGlynn) and second (Sophie Unwin). Dominka Putrya of Poland is currently in the bronze medal position. McGlynn, 48, was born partially sighted, and started cycling at 18 in Glasgow. Initially reluctant to tell her teammates about her disability, she was embraced by the club and is now a three-time gold medallist.

Men’s Goalball: It’s all over between Belgium and China: the Belgians winning 10-3. The star for the Belgians was 28-year-old Klison Mapreni, who scored eight of their 10 goals.

Wheelchair basketball: Germany is having a very good start to today’s wheelchair basketball action. Early in the third quarter, the men are up 32-26 against reigning gold medallists Team USA, while the women’s team have a comfortable 45-25 lead against Australia at half-time.

Table tennis: Australia’s Ma Lin had a comfortable win in the Men’s class 9 singles, beating Italy’s Mohamed Kalem. It’s his second win for the Games so far. A little bit of background about Ma Lin. He’s a four-time gold medallist for his native China, but is representing the green and gold for the first time at Tokyo. He lost his right arm at the aged of five, after he was bitten by a bear in a zoo accident.

Swimming: In the men’s 100m freestyle S5, Brazilian champ Daniel Dias qualified second-fastest, behind China’s Yuan Weiyi. He needs two more gold medals to become the most-decorated Para swimmer of all time. (He already has 14 gold, seven silver and four bronze).

Women’s wheelchair basketball: It’s a slow start for Australia’s Gliders, down 22-13 late in the first quarter against Germany in their second hit-out of the Games. The Gliders went down 73-47 to the hosts Japan in their first round match yesterday, so they’ll be looking to turn things around.

Men’s Goalball: Belgium looks the goods against China here, extending its lead to 4-1, courtesy of a Klison Mapreni goal late in the first half. For the uninitiated, goalball is a sport designed for people with vision impairment. It’s a bit like handball, but with two teams of three attempting to throw the ball into a goal, which covers the length of the court. The ball has a ball in it, and eyeshades are used so that partially blind players are on an equal footing against blind opponents.

Men’s wheelchair basketball: This is one to watch today. It’s still early days but Germany is up by six points (16-10) against reigning champs Team USA at quarter time.

This is what the medal tally looks like as the action gets underway today.

It looks pretty good if you’re looking at it from Australia. But my colleague Martin Belam warns, “Savour this one Australia, because I doubt there will be many days when China are not top.”

1 ?? Australia ? 6 ? 1 ? 3 total: 10
2 ?? China ? 5 ? 1 ? 2 total: 8
3 ◻️ Not Russia ? 3 ? 1 ? 2 total: 6
4 ?? Italy ? 2 ? 1 ? 2 total: 5
5 ?? Ukraine ? 1 ? 5 ? 2 total: 8
6 ?? Great Britain ? 1 ? 4 ? 1 total: 6
7 ?? Brazil ? 1 ? 1 ? 2 total: 4
8 ?? Netherlands ? 1 ? 1 ? 0 total: 2
9 ?? Belarus ? 1 ? 0 ? 0 total: 1
9 ?? Chile ? 1 ? 0 ? 0 total: 1
9 ?? Israel ? 1 ? 0 ? 0 total: 1
9 ?? Singapore ? 1 ? 0 ? 0 total: 1

There’s about to be a flurry of live action, with swimming heats and cycling and plenty more, so let’s quickly take a look at some of the highlights of yesterday before we get in to that.

Australia dominated in the pool yesterday, claiming four gold medals. Of particular note was Lakeisha Patterson, who bested Hungary’s Zsófia Konkoly and Team GB’s Toni Shaw in a thrilling race. Gold also went to William Martin in the men’s 400m freestyle S9, Rowan Crowthers for the men’s 50m freestyle S10, and Ben Popham (men’s 100m freestyle S8).

For our British readers, the Sarah Storey show is well and truly on the road. Storey, 43, won gold 3000m individual pursuit C5, breaking her own world record in the process. By four seconds, no less. It takes her Paralympic gold medal haul to 15, one short of swimmer Mike Kenny’s British record.

Staying at the velodrome, and it was a golden start for Australia there, too. Paige Greco defeated China’s Wang Xiaomei in the C3 individual 3000m pursuit final. Moments later, Emily Petricola, 41, also won cold in the C4 classification.

In the wheelchair rugby, the US got of to a flying start, defeating New Zealand 63-35. It was a much tighter affair between Great Britain and Canada, with the Brits winning 50-47. Meanwhile, debutants Denmark claimed a surprise win over reigning champs Australia, 54-53.