Geoff Lemon's Blog, page 55

Tokyo Paralympics day four: GB’s Hahn and Young win golds in T38 100m – as it happened

Great Britain hoovered up the medals, winning 14 to go second in the table behind China

2.00pm BST

And that concludes a day dripping in gold for Great Britain, on the velodrome, in the pool and on the track.

1.57pm BST

The day closes out with a fine win for ParalympicsGB over Australia in the women’s basketball, the final score 75-38. The British will face China in the quarter-finals in a couple of days. The Chinese, who have won four from four, will be a tougher proposition but that was a pretty devastating win that served as a first win for the Brits over their time-honoured rival.

1.51pm BST

There was actually one further medal to be collect and it was collected in dramatic style.

What a day it's been so far, and there's still a few medals left to be won

Where are you watching from?#Paralympics #Tokyo2020

1.22pm BST

Some more results from the athletics, where the last of the medals are being handed out today. Just a couple of heats before the day is done in the stadium.

It's gold for Anrune Weyers as she delivers a SB in the Women's 400m F47 Final #Gold - Anrune Weyers #RSA #Silver - Lisbeli Marina Vera Andrade #VEN #Bronze - Anastasiia Soloveva #RPC #ParaAthletics #Tokyo2020 #Paralympics

Lisa Adams wraps up the Women's Shot Put F37 Final and claims the gold medal with a dominant display setting a new Paralympic record in the process - 15.12m #Gold - Lisa Adams #NZL #Silver - Na Mi #CHN #Bronze - Yingli Li #CHN #ParaAthletics #Tokyo2020 #Paralympics

1.06pm BST

Great Britain’s women’s wheelchair basketball team are beating Australia 40-18, in Group A after the second period. Rather comprehensively, you might say.

1.03pm BST

This was quite a race, with Lakatos, who usually goes over shorter events, trying to lead out and eventually being caught out by Hug in the 5000m T54 final.

The Silver Bullet takes the win and the gold in the Men's 5000m T54 Final.

Marcel Hug is now a double Paralympic Champion #Gold - Marcel Hug #SUI #Silver - Brent Lakatos #CAN #Bronze - Putharet Khongrak #THA #ParaAthletics #Tokyo2020 #Paralympics

12.26pm BST

Not a bad of sprinting for Team ParalympicsGB.

Title defended

Amazing, @SophieHahnT38 #ImpossibleToIgnore #Paralympics pic.twitter.com/UfCoAUopK7

Our first ever men’s T38 100m champion. #ImpossibleToIgnore #Paralympics pic.twitter.com/wiXoawUtWr

12.12pm BST

Double Paralympic champion Sophie Hahn speaks.

The Colombian was on my heels and I couldn’t work out who had won. I had to look at the screen. It’s been hard work. I want to thank everyone for getting this event on. I can’r wait for the relay.

12.08pm BST

And that was rarely in doubt as she sped away from the field and held off Darian Faisury Jimenez Sanchez. She’s almost nonchalant in celebration, though does take the time to look back at the video to check.

12.04pm BST

It’s raining gold for Britain. Reece Dunn, Bethany Firth, Jessica-Jane Applegate and Jordan Catchpole win gold in the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay S14 final, and in a world record time.

11.52am BST

The velodrome produces a story to match Jason and Laura Kenny.

11.51am BST

Four more medals in the pool for Australia’s impressive swimming team.

11.50am BST

Australia’s Evan O’Hanlon, he of the Lord Lucan moustache, finished third in that race behind China’s Zhu Denin but there was only one winner.

Thomas Young has won #gold in #ParaAthletics - Men's 100m - T38 at the #Tokyo2020 #Paralympics #UnitedByEmotion

I am honestly not sure what to think, I thought I had it won with three seconds to go. I can’t wait to get on that podium. Since I was 12 or 13 I wanted to come to Tokyo. Thank you to my parents and the National Lottery, and my coach.

11.39am BST

In the 100m, he surges away from the rest in the T38 race to win in a time of 10.94. Wow!

11.31am BST

“I loved every second of that race,” says Grace Harvey, who bubbles with excitement and giggles her way through a disarming interview while shivering her timbers after getting out of the pool.

11.29am BST

In the pool, Grace Harvey takes silver in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB5 behind the Ukrainian Yelyzaveta Mereshko who won the final, as expected, so that was a brave swim by Harvey, a 22-year-old who is a student of the growth industry of immunology.

Yelyzaveta Mereshko has won #gold in #ParaSwimming - Women's 100m Breaststroke - SB5 at the #Tokyo2020 #Paralympics #UnitedByEmotion

11.22am BST

To the track at the Tokyo National Stadium, and the women’s T12/T13 1500m final for athletes with visual impairments, with a couple of the runners requiring a guide. It is won by, well, almost a mile by 21-year-old in Tigist Menigstu, who demolished the field. That’s an awesome start to today’s athletics.

First #gold medal of the session goes to: Tigist Gezahagn Menigstu #ETH (4:23.24)

Women's 1500m T13 medallists: #Silver Liza Corso #USA 4:30.67#Bronze Somaya Bousaid #TUN 4:31.78#ParaAthletics #Paralympics #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/M6sg032DQr

10.59am BST

The mixed wheelchair rugby final will be between the USA and Great Britain after the American team beats Australia 49-42 in the semi-final.

10.51am BST

Some quotes from Britain’s Will Bayley, who reached the men’s table tennis final in typically fiery style when beating China’s Liao Keli, a win celebrated wildly.

It was pure relief and surprise as well because there were thoughts going through my mind at some points in that match that I had thrown it away. I showed some real guts at the end and I played some really big points because Keli didn’t stop.

10.41am BST

The excellent Luke Henriques-Gomes on Australia’s Jaryd Clifford, who was disappointed with his silver medal in the men’s 5000m T13.

10.20am BST

Another medal for ParalympicsGB, this time in the wheelchair fencing.

Wow. That’s how you come back. @DCoutya takes the BRONZE

More #Tokyo2020 medals for our wonderful wheelchair fencers. #ImpossibleToIgnore #Paralympics pic.twitter.com/zTWtEWWIuA

10.11am BST

In the men’s wheelchair rugby, Team USA are playing Australia for the right to play Paralympics GB in the final, and the Americans are leading 28-23.

9.49am BST

Earlier, there was classic table tennis semi between Britain’s Will Bayley and Kelli Liao of China, won by Bayley, who celebrated in fierce style as he reaches the final, and will play for a gold medal. Bayley was shown a yellow card for over-celebrating and will defend his Paralympic title on Sunday.

This is just everything pic.twitter.com/2rA2gjfwrO

9.27am BST

In the women’s 100m freestyle S10, there’s been a world record, as Aurélie Rivard of Canada takes gold, holding of two Dutch swimmers in Zijderveld and Kruger to retain her title.

. @AurelieRivard BREAKS HER OWN WORLD RECORD TWICE IN THE SAME DAY AND TAKES THE GOLD MEDAL IN THE WOMEN'S 100M FREESTYLE S10!!!!!!!! @SwimmingCanada pic.twitter.com/L8ddOWV7N7

9.18am BST

Gold medalist Maisie Summers-Newton, just 19, speaks.

I thought a silver would be amazing. That was my main aim. I just wanted to give it my all. I set a PB this morning and on the last 25m I just thought I would grit my teeth and get on with it.

9.15am BST

Here we go in the pool, and it’s the women’s final in the 100m breaststroke SB6 category. Ellie Simmonds, who qualified in fourth, has a medal chance, and heads determinedly to the start.

Maisie Summers-Newton instead takes the lead, as she goes from the gun, as she tries to hold off world-record holder Lio Daomin, America’s Herzog is in bronze.

That's a Paralympic Record in the Women's 100m Breaststroke - SB6!#Gold - Maisie Summers-Newton #GBR #Silver - Lio Daomin #CHN #Bronze - Sophia Herzog #USA #ParaSwimming #Tokyo2020 #Paralympics

9.08am BST

Question from Kurt Perleberg: “Will the Covid-19 pandemic be over before next year’s Olympic Winter Games and Paralympic Winter Games?”

I am no virologist, but I’d say it’s more than likely that it won’t be over, since the Winter Olympics are being held in Beijing in February, and the Paralympics in March. That China have, by comparison and as far we know, have the pandemic under some control may be good for the chances of the games going ahead though in what form - with crowd and without - we can’t say.

8.53am BST

Fair to say the wheelchair rugby contingent are delighted with the team success.

History in the making

The wheelchair rugby team are in the final and guaranteed their first ever Paralympic medal!!

49-55 #ImpossibleToIgnore pic.twitter.com/xFZ2cmvKdS

8.51am BST

Wheelchair tennis: Great Britain’s Gordon Reid has made short work of South Africa’s Leon Els, winning 6-0 6-2.

8.28am BST

Japan go into a five-point lead, and Canada call a timeout with 20 seconds to go. As, rather unfortunately, do More 4 in the UK in calling an ad break. It finishes 62-65 to Japan as Canada’s timeout comes to naught and the hosts get another win.

8.20am BST

Good morning, good evening, wherever you are, and you join me watching the basketball between Japan and Canada, into the fourth quarter and time ticking down with the score 58-56 in Japan’s favour with under two minutes on the clock.

8.12am BST

That’s it from me. I’m going to leave you in the hands of my colleague John Brewin. Bye for now.

8.08am BST

Wheelchair tennis: Out on centre court, it’s a strong start for Great Britain’s Gordon Reid, who has the break against South Africa’s Leon Els. He leads 4-1, with Els serving.

8.01am BST

Our reporter in Tokyo, Paul MacInnes, has filed this great story about the scene at the finish line of the women’s triathlon for visually impaired athletes.

7.59am BST

Powerlifting: Mexico’s Amalia Perez claimed gold in the women’s women’s -61kg, with a best lift of 131kg. That was just ahead of Uzbekistan’s Ruza Uzieva and Nigeria’s Lucy Ejike. They both lifted 130kg, in an very close contest.

7.55am BST

Toyota has apologised for the “overconfidence” of a self-driving bus after it ran over a Paralympic judoka in the athletes’ village and said it would temporarily suspend the service.

7.50am BST

Wheelchair rugby: It’s British cries of joy, hugs, backslaps and more at Yoyogi National Stadium. Great Britain win, 55-49, over a much-fancied Japanese side that were dreaming of gold on home soil. That was heartbreaking for Japan, and no doubt a little unexpected, after their otherwise flawless display to this point. They fought back in that final period, but the third quarter was decisive. If Team GB go on to win the gold, that will have proved pivotal. The British will play the winner of the USA and Australia, which is coming up soon.

7.43am BST

Great Britain’s winning mixed team sprint have reflected on their gold medal win over China in today’s final event at the velodrome.

Superstar para athlete, Kadeena Cox, said Team GB’s performance on Saturday, winning three gold medals at the Izu velodrome, was “bonkers”.

It was so good to have a female on the podium, that just happened to be me. It’s a mixed team sprint and there should be a woman in there.

I want to be a role model for women, for people from my background, I want to empower people and let them know that there’s nothing to hold them back.

7.31am BST

Goalball: Better news for Japan in the men’s goalball: they lead Lithuania 9-1.

7.30am BST

Wheelchair basketball: At half-time, the winless Canadian men’s team lead unbeaten Japan 30-19.

7.25am BST

Wheelchair rugby: Great Britain have skipped out to a massive lead against Japan, 42-32, at the end of the third period. Truth be told, it’s all unravelled for Japan in this period. The much-fancied hosts have struggled to get past an impressive Great Britain defence. And it’s looking like heartbreak for the hosts, who have otherwise seemed a cut above in this Game. Hats off to the British, who now seem likely to play the winner of Australia and the USA for a gold medal.

7.16am BST

Table tennis: I cannot believe what I have just seen. Final game, Natalia Partyka is up 9-4. The four-time gold medallist looks to be cruising to victory and into the final. But Partyka grets tight, makes a few unforced errors, and Qian Yang, senses the change in momentum. She lifts, blocking back an increasingly erratic Partyka – who looks as if she is in shock. It’s all one-way traffic until it’s over: 11-9 to Yang. She wins three games to two. The Australian is through to the final. Yang looks content, but is not going overboard, which must take some restraint when victory seemed unthinkable half-way through that final game. Perhaps she always believed. Partyka, meanwhile, looks shattered, covering her head with her towel, and who could blame her? But she leaves with bronze – and remains a bona fide star of para table tennis.

7.06am BST

Sitting volleyball: The United States women’s team open their account with a commanding 3-0 win over Rwanda.

7.00am BST

Table tennis: Australia’s Qian Yang is back. She has four game points on Natalia Partyka’s serve. Yang blocks it back, they rally, and then the Polish star flicks it long. We’re going to a fifth game to decide who will move forward to play for a gold medal.

6.57am BST

Wheelchair rugby: A massive play from Great Britain gives them a 25-23 lead over Japan at half-time. With nine seconds left in the half, they sent down the Hail Mary pass, and then a perfectly timed lob to Jonathan Coggan who rolled over the line just before the buzzer. That was as good as it gets. And a crucial play, given Team GB will start the next half in possession.

6.53am BST

Table tennis: Australia’s Qian Yang sends her backhand wide at game point, and Poland’s Natalia Partyka takes the third game 11-9. Partyka, who is the defending paralympic champion, got a little wobbly in that set there, calling a time out as she started losing momentum. Yang seemed briefly buoyed, but Partyka has shown a capacity to win the big points here. She needs one more game to close this out.

6.46am BST

Wheelchair rugby: Here we go. Great Britain out to a two-goal lead here against Japan, 17-15. The British defence has been superb. Five minutes left in the second period.

6.40am BST

Table tennis: Australia’s Qian Yang takes the first game in this semi-final of the women’s singles class 10. But Natalia Paryka of Poland fights back, winning the second comfortably, 11-4. There was some impressive play in that second game from Paryka.

6.31am BST

Wheelchair rugby: Japan lead 9-8 against Great Britain now. This a captivating game so far – and typically combative, with players being sent to the penalty box, and a bruising hit on Great Britain’s Stuart Robinson that ends in a big wipe-out. He’s back on two wheels and doing fine. Two minutes left in the first period.

6.22am BST

Wheelchair rugby: We’re up and running in the first semi-final between Japan and Great Britain. The hosts, who are beloved as a team in Japan, are off to a strong start, capitalising on some loose play from Great Britain to take a 4-3 lead. But just as I say that, Japanese give up the ball, and it’s 4-4.

6.08am BST

Goalball: And Japan take it. It stays 3-2. And quite a nice moment at the end there. With three seconds left and possession of the ball, Japan called a time out to let their players know to hold onto the ball. (Teams have 10 seconds to throw.) When play resumes, the three Japanese players stand still, arm in arm, until the final whistle confirms their first win at the Games. USA got close at the end there. Their final shot bounced up, and nearly cleared an outstretched Japanese leg. But it didn’t. And that was the game.

6.00am BST

Goalball: The USA have called a time-out with one minute to play. Japan leads 3-2. The Americans are really pushing hard for a third here, but the Japanese defence has been very solid. They are winless so far, so what a result this would be for the hosts.

5.57am BST

‘Unplayable Delivery’ writes in:

Medals for Team GB in all the cycling track events today-fantastic! Worth staying up all night for.

5.52am BST

Goalball: Japan have been leading USA 3-1 in the women’s goalball. The USA are the reigning Paralympic champions. With just under six minutes to play in the second half, Amanda Dennis pulls one back. This is very evenly poised now.

5.38am BST

Table tennis: And von Einem does it. The Australian is through to the final, winning that final game 11-5. An amazing comeback, real nerves of steel there. Van Acker leaves with a bronze, an incredible effort. Earlier, Australia’s Li Na also won in a sea-sawing five-game match, and will also play for gold in the women’s singles class 9.

5.31am BST

Table tennis: It’s down to a fifth game in the men’s singles class 11 between Australia’s Samuel von Einem and Belgium’s Florian van Acker. First two games went to the Belgian, but von Einem fought back. The winner will be through the gold medal match.

5.14am BST

Table tennis: Australia’s Ma Lin is through to the gold medal match in the men’s singles class 9. He defeated Ukraine’s Ivan Mai 3-1 earlier today. Ma, who was born in China and is representing Australia for the first time these games, has a remarkable backstory.

In the mid 1990s, at the age of five, Ma was bitten by a bear at a zoo. The attack happened when Ma tried to pat the bear through the fence. He lost his right arm in the accident.

5.06am BST

Powerlifting: Malaysia get their first medal of the Games. Bonnie Gustin takes gold with a massive lift of 228kg, ahead of Mahmoud Attia of Egypt and Micky Yule of Great Britain.

5.02am BST

Boccia: Let’s take a look at the Boccia. An intriguing lusophone battle between Evani Soares da Silva Calado of Brazil and Jose Macedo of Portugal ends with a 4-3 win to Macedo.

Boccia resembles sports like lawn bowls, with players seeking to play their ball closest to the jack. They use a ramp that is put into position by a support person, allowing those with limited mobility to compete. Crucially, the support person is unable to direct the competitor or look at the field of play.

4.55am BST

Wheelchair basketball: It’s all over. Australia defeat Germany 64-53. Bill Latham leads the scoring for Australia with 17 points. That’s three wins from three matches for Australia, who now play the United States tomorrow. Germany will be looking to bounce back against Algeria.

4.47am BST

That goalball victory earlier meant so much to Australia’s Belles, as these photos show.

What it means to secure your first Paralympic win of #Tokyo2020 for @AUSParalympics! #Goalball #Tokyo2020 #AussieBelles pic.twitter.com/RLAvxZVNKa

4.46am BST

Cycling: At the velodrome, are Great Britain and China vying for gold in the mixed C1-5 750m Team Sprint. Each team has three riders here. Kadeena Cox is out at a blistering pace, but China find a healthy lead as the second riders peel off. It’s Jody Cundy and Lai Shanzhang, head-to-head in a grandstand finish. Great Britain takes it in a nail-biter. An incredible effort from Cundy, and his teammates Cox and Jaco Van Gass. A tough break for the Chinese, who looked the goods there until the final moment. That’s the last event at the Izu Velodrome. What a way to end it.

4.37am BST

Wheelchair basketball: Well, well, well. Tightening up a little here now with 7 minutes to go in the last quarter. Australia lead 54-48, but Germany look like they’ve lifted now. Last few shots just haven’t wanted to drop for Australia.

4.32am BST

Discus: In the women’s F57 seated discus, Uzbekistan’s Mokhigul Khamdamova takes gold, with a throw of 31.46m. Her first was her best. Sporting a white headband (it’s boiling down on the track), Khamdamova let’s out a big sigh, and is all smiles and big waves to cameras and the stands. It’s Algeria’s Nassima Saifi in second, throwing 30.81m, with Brazil’s Julyana Cristina da Silva (30.49m) taking the bronze.

4.19am BST

Wheelchair basketball: Australia still hold a good lead against Germany, who’ve just sunk very nice three-pointer. But it’s a quick two-point reply from Australia, who maintain possession, bringing the score to 40-28. About five minutes to go in the third quarter.

4.17am BST

Long jump: France’s Marie-Amelie Fur is on her final jump here in the T64. She looks pumped as she bounces up and down at the start of run. She springs off the board, and it’s close. Very close. Fur looks on in anticipation. It’s 6.11m, a new Paralympic in her classification, and good enough for silver. Truth be told, the Netherlands’ Fleur Jong has looked unbeatable throughout this event with her world record jump of 6.16m. In the end, Fur got pretty close. But it’s gold for Jong, who wins off her first jump, and bronze to her Dutch compatriot Marlene van Gansewinkel. Jong is ecstatic, screaming into the stands with delight.

4.07am BST

Greetings to you all, wherever you are. Thank you to Geoff Lemon for his great work today and the kind suggestion that you offer me baked goods. There’s plenty going on and I’m already on my third coffee so any confectionary is welcome. If not, I’ll settle for some comments, which are open at the bottom of the blog.

Let’s crack on, shall we?

4.02am BST

That’s enough for me today. Taking the wheel for the next few hours is Luke Henriques-Gomes. Don’t just sit there, offer him a biscuit.

4.01am BST

Cycling: He and his pilot Matthew Rotherham smash Fachie’s previous mark by more than a second! James Ball had set a new Paralympic record with his ride, but Fachie goes one better. The new mark is 58.038 seconds! So close to breaking that 58 mark.

3.55am BST

Cycling: James Ball in gold medal position, now Neil Fachie will race to decide it.

3.53am BST

The T11 category, where runners with blindfolds run alongside guides, ends with another gold for China. Liu goes out strong, starts to battle a bit towards the end, but holds on. Thalita Vitoria Simplicio de Silva is in silver position for Brazil, Angie Lizeth Pabon Mamian bronze for Colombia, ahead of Venezuela’s Linda Patricia Perez Lopez.

3.46am BST

Powerlifting: The men’s -72kg final has begun. The Malaysian Bonnie Bunyau Gustin has already lifted 225 kegs, five shy of his world record. Egypt in second spot, Thailand third.

3.43am BST

Long jump: No one has made ground on Fleur Jong yet. GB’s Stef Reid is in fourth place with 5.55m. As I type, the other Dutch jumper does improve her distance, from 5.60 to 5.78. Still in the bronze medal spot, but at least make that spot safer.

3.42am BST

Cycling: The men’s B 1000m time trial is underway. James Ball and Neil Fachie to race in the last two spots for Great Britain. Martin Gordon of Ireland currently leading out of six riders, with 1:01:545.

3.39am BST

Wheelchair basketball: Quarter time, and Australia lead 21-11. The Germans got a couple of baskets back.

3.32am BST

Wheelchair basketball: Up 21-7 now, the Aussies. They’re draining threes, defending clinically, this is imposing.

3.27am BST

Wheelchair basketball: The Aussie men have got going against Germany. They’re up 12-6 in the first quarter.

3.24am BST

Table tennis: USA’s Ian Seidenfeld is through to a gold-medal match, having wiped GB’s Paul Karabardak off the table in straight sets. Bronze for the Brit in the Class 6 paddle-whacking.

3.16am BST

Uhhhh... Fleur Jong has just set a new record with her first jump of the women’s T64 final. Talk about psyching out your opponents. The Dutchwoman has 6.16 metres, bettering her own 6.14 from earlier in the year. Now she can pretty much sit back and chill while the rest of the field fights for silver. Next best so far is 5.99.

3.12am BST

That’s good news, at least. The weather reports don’t look any less hot in Tokyo than they were yesterday, when matches were delayed, but the first match featuring hometown player Kamiji Yui is about to start. She’s out there hitting warmups with Argentine opponent Maria Florencia Moreno.

2.50am BST

In the men’s F12, the standing final, Kim Lopez Gonzalez betters his own world record by two centimetres, recording 17.04 metres with his final legal throw of the round. Spain takes the gold.

2.46am BST

Table tennis: Jenson van Emburgh loses his Class 3 match in straight sets to China’s Feng Panfeng, but that still gets the USA a bronze medal.

2.45am BST

There’s a surprise in the women’s comp, at least from traditional perceptions of power. China hold on 42 to 41. They led by 5 with 20 seconds to go, but the USA clawed back two baskets in those final moments. Couldn’t get a chance at a three-pointer though to tie things up.

China have four wins from four to lock up top spot in Group B. The USA currently one from three.

2.42am BST

Athletics: Gold for the Aleksandar Iaremchuk in the men’s 1500m T46. Bulgaria’s Hristiyan Stoyanov looked to have his measure coming into the last 200, as they ebbed and flowed, but the Russian held something in reserve. Charges past in the last 50 metres. David Emong third for Uganda, their first medal of the Games.

2.27am BST

Athletics: That is a remarkable performance. It might sound simple in racing terms: go out faster than your competitors and stay ahead. But distance races are always about tactics: staying with the pack, when to attack, when to pull away.

Scaroni doesn’t bother.

2.10am BST

Athletics: The women’s 5000m T54 is underway - the wheelchair racing. Australian star Madison de Rozario is prominent in this field.

2.08am BST

Table tennis: Yang Qian beats fellow Australian Melissa Tapper in straight sets. A shame for them that the draw brought them up against each other as early as the quarterfinals.

2.06am BST

Athletics: What a race from Jarryd Clifford. Gives it everything he has in the T13 distance final, but Spain’s Yassin Ouhdadi el Ataby has too much in the final 50 metres. Puts on a kick that takes him clear of Clifford, who visibly wilts in the background as he realises his rival will cross first. But a silver medal for Clifford, deserved, and a brilliant finish from el Ataby.

The Russian Aleksandr Costin gets bronze, with GB’s David Devine fourth. The T13 athletes are those with a vision impairment that isn’t total, so they can run unassisted.

1.59am BST

Spain over Italy and France, how Napoleonic. Susana Rodriguez wins the women’s PTVI ahead of Anna Barbaro and Anouck Curzillat.

In the men’s, Brad Snyder gets the gold, there’s another Spanish medal with Hector Laparra Calata’s silver, and Japan get bronze with Yoneoka Satoru.

1.53am BST

Table tennis: Ross Wilson loses his composure late against Nikolenko. Has several chances to take the third game, an arm wrestle that the Ukrainian eventually claims to lead 2-1. Then Wilson tenses up in the decisive game. Doesn’t play with confidence. A few tentative little shots, a lot of errors missing long, and Nikolenko doesn’t have to hit many winners to go into a semifinal and (in this format) a guaranteed bronze medal.

1.50am BST

Goalball: Canada score late to close the margin to 4-3, but the Australians hold on for their first win. Smiles of relief.

1.40am BST

Goalball: The Australians up 3-1, all to Horsburgh. This one squirms through the defence and is knocked away late, but the sideline ref rules that it has entirely crossed the line first.

1.38am BST

Table tennis: Shilton and McKibbin have both gone down, 3-0 and 3-1 respectively, but Wilson is locked 1-1 and point for point with Maksim Nicolenko of Ukraine.

1.32am BST

Goalball: Horsburgh scores again! Australia back in front 2-1. Then just keeping out a tricky one themselves.

1.30am BST

Goalball: Those wily Canadians score before halftime, finding a gap in an Australian defence that until now, to be fair, has been more gap than defence. It’s 1-1.

1.29am BST

Table tennis: With an Australia / Great Britain / USA skew, to the countries where this paper is based, there’s a stack of table tennis quarters and semifinals to watch out for today. Right now, three GB players are up simultaneously in quarters: Ross Wilson, Billy Shilton, and Aaron McKibbin. Those to come, in Tokyo time:

9:40am - Yang Qian and Melissa Tapper, two Australians playing one another
10:20 - Jenson van Emburgh (USA) in a Class 3 semifinal
11am - Paul Karabardak (GB) playing Ian Seidenfeld (USA) in a Class 6 semi
11:40 - William Bayley (GB) in a Class 7 semi
12:30 - Ma Lin (Aus) in a Class 9 semi
1pm - Samuel von Einem (Aus) in a Class 11 semi, Thomas Matthews (GB) in a Class 1

1.21am BST

Goalball: A third and penultimate chance for the Australian women, who got absolutely blown off the court by Israel in their first match, 10 goals down to bring about a mercy, which is when the game is called off. Then saw out the match against China but lost 6-0. They scored once from a penalty against Israel but haven’t scored in open play.

Until now! Meica Horsburgh drives in her team’s first goal using bounce that takes it over the central defender. And the bench goes wild. Australia leading Canada 1-0.

1.10am BST

The men’s PTS4 and women’s PTS2 have already been completed, with the first gold medal of day going to France’s Alexis Hanquinquant, with Hideki Uda claiming silver for the host nation and Alejandro Sanchez Palomero bronze for Spain. In the women’s event, it was a US one-two with Allysa Seely winning gold ahead of teammate Hailey Danz. Veronica Yoko Plebani of Italy won bronze.

The men’s and women’s PTVI races for those with visual impairments start are under way.

1.05am BST

Before we dive into today’s sport, take a moment to enjoy day three’s action with our photo gallery of the best shots of the day.

1.00am BST

Hello world, welcome to our ongoing coverage of these 2020 Paralympic Games. Some athletes are already up and running (and swimming and cycling), with four triathlon races starting early. More on those in a tick.

For now, and courtesy of my colleague Martin Belam, here are the other main points of focus on another busy day in Tokyo.

View more on Geoff Lemon's website »

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Published on August 28, 2021 06:00

Tokyo Paralympics day four: GB’s Hahn and Young win golds in T38 100m – live!

Results | Latest medal table | Full coverage Sign up for our daily Paralympic briefing Email, tweet @johnbrewin_ or comment BTL

1.51pm BST

There was actually one further medal to be collect and it was collected in dramatic style.

What a day it's been so far, and there's still a few medals left to be won

Where are you watching from?#Paralympics #Tokyo2020

1.22pm BST

Some more results from the athletics, where the last of the medals are being handed out today. Just a couple of heats before the day is done in the stadium.

It's gold for Anrune Weyers as she delivers a SB in the Women's 400m F47 Final #Gold - Anrune Weyers #RSA #Silver - Lisbeli Marina Vera Andrade #VEN #Bronze - Anastasiia Soloveva #RPC #ParaAthletics #Tokyo2020 #Paralympics

Lisa Adams wraps up the Women's Shot Put F37 Final and claims the gold medal with a dominant display setting a new Paralympic record in the process - 15.12m #Gold - Lisa Adams #NZL #Silver - Na Mi #CHN #Bronze - Yingli Li #CHN #ParaAthletics #Tokyo2020 #Paralympics

1.06pm BST

Great Britain’s women’s wheelchair basketball team are beating Australia 40-18, in Group A after the second period. Rather comprehensively, you might say.

1.03pm BST

This was quite a race, with Lakatos, who usually goes over shorter events, trying to lead out and eventually being caught out by Hug in the 5000m T54 final.

The Silver Bullet takes the win and the gold in the Men's 5000m T54 Final.

Marcel Hug is now a double Paralympic Champion #Gold - Marcel Hug #SUI #Silver - Brent Lakatos #CAN #Bronze - Putharet Khongrak #THA #ParaAthletics #Tokyo2020 #Paralympics

12.26pm BST

Not a bad of sprinting for Team ParalympicsGB.

Title defended

Amazing, @SophieHahnT38 #ImpossibleToIgnore #Paralympics pic.twitter.com/UfCoAUopK7

Our first ever men’s T38 100m champion. #ImpossibleToIgnore #Paralympics pic.twitter.com/wiXoawUtWr

12.12pm BST

Double Paralympic champion Sophie Hahn speaks.

The Colombian was on my heels and I couldn’t work out who had won. I had to look at the screen. It’s been hard work. I want to thank everyone for getting this event on. I can’r wait for the relay.

12.08pm BST

And that was rarely in doubt as she sped away from the field and held off Darian Faisury Jimenez Sanchez. She’s almost nonchalant in celebration, though does take the time to look back at the video to check.

12.04pm BST

It’s raining gold for Britain. Reece Dunn, Bethany Firth, Jessica-Jane Applegate and Jordan Catchpole win gold in the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay S14 final, and in a world record time.

11.52am BST

The velodrome produces a story to match Jason and Laura Kenny.

11.51am BST

Four more medals in the pool for Australia’s impressive swimming team.

11.50am BST

Australia’s Evan O’Hanlon, he of the Lord Lucan moustache, finished third in that race behind China’s Zhu Denin but there was only one winner.

Thomas Young has won #gold in #ParaAthletics - Men's 100m - T38 at the #Tokyo2020 #Paralympics #UnitedByEmotion

I am honestly not sure what to think, I thought I had it won with three seconds to go. I can’t wait to get on that podium. Since I was 12 or 13 I wanted to come to Tokyo. Thank you to my parents and the National Lottery, and my coach.

11.39am BST

In the 100m, he surges away from the rest in the T38 race to win in a time of 10.94. Wow!

11.31am BST

“I loved every second of that race,” says Grace Harvey, who bubbles with excitement and giggles her way through a disarming interview while shivering her timbers after getting out of the pool.

11.29am BST

In the pool, Grace Harvey takes silver in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB5 behind the Ukrainian Yelyzaveta Mereshko who won the final, as expected, so that was a brave swim by Harvey, a 22-year-old who is a student of the growth industry of immunology.

Yelyzaveta Mereshko has won #gold in #ParaSwimming - Women's 100m Breaststroke - SB5 at the #Tokyo2020 #Paralympics #UnitedByEmotion

11.22am BST

To the track at the Tokyo National Stadium, and the women’s T12/T13 1500m final for athletes with visual impairments, with a couple of the runners requiring a guide. It is won by, well, almost a mile by 21-year-old in Tigist Menigstu, who demolished the field. That’s an awesome start to today’s athletics.

First #gold medal of the session goes to: Tigist Gezahagn Menigstu #ETH (4:23.24)

Women's 1500m T13 medallists: #Silver Liza Corso #USA 4:30.67#Bronze Somaya Bousaid #TUN 4:31.78#ParaAthletics #Paralympics #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/M6sg032DQr

10.59am BST

The mixed wheelchair rugby final will be between the USA and Great Britain after the American team beats Australia 49-42 in the semi-final.

10.51am BST

Some quotes from Britain’s Will Bayley, who reached the men’s table tennis final in typically fiery style when beating China’s Liao Keli, a win celebrated wildly.

It was pure relief and surprise as well because there were thoughts going through my mind at some points in that match that I had thrown it away. I showed some real guts at the end and I played some really big points because Keli didn’t stop.

10.41am BST

The excellent Luke Henriques-Gomes on Australia’s Jaryd Clifford, who was disappointed with his silver medal in the men’s 5000m T13.

10.20am BST

Another medal for ParalympicsGB, this time in the wheelchair fencing.

Wow. That’s how you come back. @DCoutya takes the BRONZE

More #Tokyo2020 medals for our wonderful wheelchair fencers. #ImpossibleToIgnore #Paralympics pic.twitter.com/zTWtEWWIuA

10.11am BST

In the men’s wheelchair rugby, Team USA are playing Australia for the right to play Paralympics GB in the final, and the Americans are leading 28-23.

9.49am BST

Earlier, there was classic table tennis semi between Britain’s Will Bayley and Kelli Liao of China, won by Bayley, who celebrated in fierce style as he reaches the final, and will play for a gold medal. Bayley was shown a yellow card for over-celebrating and will defend his Paralympic title on Sunday.

This is just everything pic.twitter.com/2rA2gjfwrO

9.27am BST

In the women’s 100m freestyle S10, there’s been a world record, as Aurélie Rivard of Canada takes gold, holding of two Dutch swimmers in Zijderveld and Kruger to retain her title.

. @AurelieRivard BREAKS HER OWN WORLD RECORD TWICE IN THE SAME DAY AND TAKES THE GOLD MEDAL IN THE WOMEN'S 100M FREESTYLE S10!!!!!!!! @SwimmingCanada pic.twitter.com/L8ddOWV7N7

9.18am BST

Gold medalist Maisie Summers-Newton, just 19, speaks.

I thought a silver would be amazing. That was my main aim. I just wanted to give it my all. I set a PB this morning and on the last 25m I just thought I would grit my teeth and get on with it.

9.15am BST

Here we go in the pool, and it’s the women’s final in the 100m breaststroke SB6 category. Ellie Simmonds, who qualified in fourth, has a medal chance, and heads determinedly to the start.

Maisie Summers-Newton instead takes the lead, as she goes from the gun, as she tries to hold off world-record holder Lio Daomin, America’s Herzog is in bronze.

That's a Paralympic Record in the Women's 100m Breaststroke - SB6!#Gold - Maisie Summers-Newton #GBR #Silver - Lio Daomin #CHN #Bronze - Sophia Herzog #USA #ParaSwimming #Tokyo2020 #Paralympics

9.08am BST

Question from Kurt Perleberg: “Will the Covid-19 pandemic be over before next year’s Olympic Winter Games and Paralympic Winter Games?”

I am no virologist, but I’d say it’s more than likely that it won’t be over, since the Winter Olympics are being held in Beijing in February, and the Paralympics in March. That China have, by comparison and as far we know, have the pandemic under some control may be good for the chances of the games going ahead though in what form - with crowd and without - we can’t say.

8.53am BST

Fair to say the wheelchair rugby contingent are delighted with the team success.

History in the making

The wheelchair rugby team are in the final and guaranteed their first ever Paralympic medal!!

49-55 #ImpossibleToIgnore pic.twitter.com/xFZ2cmvKdS

8.51am BST

Wheelchair tennis: Great Britain’s Gordon Reid has made short work of South Africa’s Leon Els, winning 6-0 6-2.

8.28am BST

Japan go into a five-point lead, and Canada call a timeout with 20 seconds to go. As, rather unfortunately, do More 4 in the UK in calling an ad break. It finishes 62-65 to Japan as Canada’s timeout comes to naught and the hosts get another win.

8.20am BST

Good morning, good evening, wherever you are, and you join me watching the basketball between Japan and Canada, into the fourth quarter and time ticking down with the score 58-56 in Japan’s favour with under two minutes on the clock.

8.12am BST

That’s it from me. I’m going to leave you in the hands of my colleague John Brewin. Bye for now.

8.08am BST

Wheelchair tennis: Out on centre court, it’s a strong start for Great Britain’s Gordon Reid, who has the break against South Africa’s Leon Els. He leads 4-1, with Els serving.

8.01am BST

Our reporter in Tokyo, Paul MacInnes, has filed this great story about the scene at the finish line of the women’s triathlon for visually impaired athletes.

7.59am BST

Powerlifting: Mexico’s Amalia Perez claimed gold in the women’s women’s -61kg, with a best lift of 131kg. That was just ahead of Uzbekistan’s Ruza Uzieva and Nigeria’s Lucy Ejike. They both lifted 130kg, in an very close contest.

7.55am BST

Toyota has apologised for the “overconfidence” of a self-driving bus after it ran over a Paralympic judoka in the athletes’ village and said it would temporarily suspend the service.

7.50am BST

Wheelchair rugby: It’s British cries of joy, hugs, backslaps and more at Yoyogi National Stadium. Great Britain win, 55-49, over a much-fancied Japanese side that were dreaming of gold on home soil. That was heartbreaking for Japan, and no doubt a little unexpected, after their otherwise flawless display to this point. They fought back in that final period, but the third quarter was decisive. If Team GB go on to win the gold, that will have proved pivotal. The British will play the winner of the USA and Australia, which is coming up soon.

7.43am BST

Great Britain’s winning mixed team sprint have reflected on their gold medal win over China in today’s final event at the velodrome.

Superstar para athlete, Kadeena Cox, said Team GB’s performance on Saturday, winning three gold medals at the Izu velodrome, was “bonkers”.

It was so good to have a female on the podium, that just happened to be me. It’s a mixed team sprint and there should be a woman in there.

I want to be a role model for women, for people from my background, I want to empower people and let them know that there’s nothing to hold them back.

7.31am BST

Goalball: Better news for Japan in the men’s goalball: they lead Lithuania 9-1.

7.30am BST

Wheelchair basketball: At half-time, the winless Canadian men’s team lead unbeaten Japan 30-19.

7.25am BST

Wheelchair rugby: Great Britain have skipped out to a massive lead against Japan, 42-32, at the end of the third period. Truth be told, it’s all unravelled for Japan in this period. The much-fancied hosts have struggled to get past an impressive Great Britain defence. And it’s looking like heartbreak for the hosts, who have otherwise seemed a cut above in this Game. Hats off to the British, who now seem likely to play the winner of Australia and the USA for a gold medal.

7.16am BST

Table tennis: I cannot believe what I have just seen. Final game, Natalia Partyka is up 9-4. The four-time gold medallist looks to be cruising to victory and into the final. But Partyka grets tight, makes a few unforced errors, and Qian Yang, senses the change in momentum. She lifts, blocking back an increasingly erratic Partyka – who looks as if she is in shock. It’s all one-way traffic until it’s over: 11-9 to Yang. She wins three games to two. The Australian is through to the final. Yang looks content, but is not going overboard, which must take some restraint when victory seemed unthinkable half-way through that final game. Perhaps she always believed. Partyka, meanwhile, looks shattered, covering her head with her towel, and who could blame her? But she leaves with bronze – and remains a bona fide star of para table tennis.

7.06am BST

Sitting volleyball: The United States women’s team open their account with a commanding 3-0 win over Rwanda.

7.00am BST

Table tennis: Australia’s Qian Yang is back. She has four game points on Natalia Partyka’s serve. Yang blocks it back, they rally, and then the Polish star flicks it long. We’re going to a fifth game to decide who will move forward to play for a gold medal.

6.57am BST

Wheelchair rugby: A massive play from Great Britain gives them a 25-23 lead over Japan at half-time. With nine seconds left in the half, they sent down the Hail Mary pass, and then a perfectly timed lob to Jonathan Coggan who rolled over the line just before the buzzer. That was as good as it gets. And a crucial play, given Team GB will start the next half in possession.

6.53am BST

Table tennis: Australia’s Qian Yang sends her backhand wide at game point, and Poland’s Natalia Partyka takes the third game 11-9. Partyka, who is the defending paralympic champion, got a little wobbly in that set there, calling a time out as she started losing momentum. Yang seemed briefly buoyed, but Partyka has shown a capacity to win the big points here. She needs one more game to close this out.

6.46am BST

Wheelchair rugby: Here we go. Great Britain out to a two-goal lead here against Japan, 17-15. The British defence has been superb. Five minutes left in the second period.

6.40am BST

Table tennis: Australia’s Qian Yang takes the first game in this semi-final of the women’s singles class 10. But Natalia Paryka of Poland fights back, winning the second comfortably, 11-4. There was some impressive play in that second game from Paryka.

6.31am BST

Wheelchair rugby: Japan lead 9-8 against Great Britain now. This a captivating game so far – and typically combative, with players being sent to the penalty box, and a bruising hit on Great Britain’s Stuart Robinson that ends in a big wipe-out. He’s back on two wheels and doing fine. Two minutes left in the first period.

6.22am BST

Wheelchair rugby: We’re up and running in the first semi-final between Japan and Great Britain. The hosts, who are beloved as a team in Japan, are off to a strong start, capitalising on some loose play from Great Britain to take a 4-3 lead. But just as I say that, Japanese give up the ball, and it’s 4-4.

6.08am BST

Goalball: And Japan take it. It stays 3-2. And quite a nice moment at the end there. With three seconds left and possession of the ball, Japan called a time out to let their players know to hold onto the ball. (Teams have 10 seconds to throw.) When play resumes, the three Japanese players stand still, arm in arm, until the final whistle confirms their first win at the Games. USA got close at the end there. Their final shot bounced up, and nearly cleared an outstretched Japanese leg. But it didn’t. And that was the game.

6.00am BST

Goalball: The USA have called a time-out with one minute to play. Japan leads 3-2. The Americans are really pushing hard for a third here, but the Japanese defence has been very solid. They are winless so far, so what a result this would be for the hosts.

5.57am BST

‘Unplayable Delivery’ writes in:

Medals for Team GB in all the cycling track events today-fantastic! Worth staying up all night for.

5.52am BST

Goalball: Japan have been leading USA 3-1 in the women’s goalball. The USA are the reigning Paralympic champions. With just under six minutes to play in the second half, Amanda Dennis pulls one back. This is very evenly poised now.

5.38am BST

Table tennis: And von Einem does it. The Australian is through to the final, winning that final game 11-5. An amazing comeback, real nerves of steel there. Van Acker leaves with a bronze, an incredible effort. Earlier, Australia’s Li Na also won in a sea-sawing five-game match, and will also play for gold in the women’s singles class 9.

5.31am BST

Table tennis: It’s down to a fifth game in the men’s singles class 11 between Australia’s Samuel von Einem and Belgium’s Florian van Acker. First two games went to the Belgian, but von Einem fought back. The winner will be through the gold medal match.

5.14am BST

Table tennis: Australia’s Ma Lin is through to the gold medal match in the men’s singles class 9. He defeated Ukraine’s Ivan Mai 3-1 earlier today. Ma, who was born in China and is representing Australia for the first time these games, has a remarkable backstory.

In the mid 1990s, at the age of five, Ma was bitten by a bear at a zoo. The attack happened when Ma tried to pat the bear through the fence. He lost his right arm in the accident.

5.06am BST

Powerlifting: Malaysia get their first medal of the Games. Bonnie Gustin takes gold with a massive lift of 228kg, ahead of Mahmoud Attia of Egypt and Micky Yule of Great Britain.

5.02am BST

Boccia: Let’s take a look at the Boccia. An intriguing lusophone battle between Evani Soares da Silva Calado of Brazil and Jose Macedo of Portugal ends with a 4-3 win to Macedo.

Boccia resembles sports like lawn bowls, with players seeking to play their ball closest to the jack. They use a ramp that is put into position by a support person, allowing those with limited mobility to compete. Crucially, the support person is unable to direct the competitor or look at the field of play.

4.55am BST

Wheelchair basketball: It’s all over. Australia defeat Germany 64-53. Bill Latham leads the scoring for Australia with 17 points. That’s three wins from three matches for Australia, who now play the United States tomorrow. Germany will be looking to bounce back against Algeria.

4.47am BST

That goalball victory earlier meant so much to Australia’s Belles, as these photos show.

What it means to secure your first Paralympic win of #Tokyo2020 for @AUSParalympics! #Goalball #Tokyo2020 #AussieBelles pic.twitter.com/RLAvxZVNKa

4.46am BST

Cycling: At the velodrome, are Great Britain and China vying for gold in the mixed C1-5 750m Team Sprint. Each team has three riders here. Kadeena Cox is out at a blistering pace, but China find a healthy lead as the second riders peel off. It’s Jody Cundy and Lai Shanzhang, head-to-head in a grandstand finish. Great Britain takes it in a nail-biter. An incredible effort from Cundy, and his teammates Cox and Jaco Van Gass. A tough break for the Chinese, who looked the goods there until the final moment. That’s the last event at the Izu Velodrome. What a way to end it.

4.37am BST

Wheelchair basketball: Well, well, well. Tightening up a little here now with 7 minutes to go in the last quarter. Australia lead 54-48, but Germany look like they’ve lifted now. Last few shots just haven’t wanted to drop for Australia.

4.32am BST

Discus: In the women’s F57 seated discus, Uzbekistan’s Mokhigul Khamdamova takes gold, with a throw of 31.46m. Her first was her best. Sporting a white headband (it’s boiling down on the track), Khamdamova let’s out a big sigh, and is all smiles and big waves to cameras and the stands. It’s Algeria’s Nassima Saifi in second, throwing 30.81m, with Brazil’s Julyana Cristina da Silva (30.49m) taking the bronze.

4.19am BST

Wheelchair basketball: Australia still hold a good lead against Germany, who’ve just sunk very nice three-pointer. But it’s a quick two-point reply from Australia, who maintain possession, bringing the score to 40-28. About five minutes to go in the third quarter.

4.17am BST

Long jump: France’s Marie-Amelie Fur is on her final jump here in the T64. She looks pumped as she bounces up and down at the start of run. She springs off the board, and it’s close. Very close. Fur looks on in anticipation. It’s 6.11m, a new Paralympic in her classification, and good enough for silver. Truth be told, the Netherlands’ Fleur Jong has looked unbeatable throughout this event with her world record jump of 6.16m. In the end, Fur got pretty close. But it’s gold for Jong, who wins off her first jump, and bronze to her Dutch compatriot Marlene van Gansewinkel. Jong is ecstatic, screaming into the stands with delight.

4.07am BST

Greetings to you all, wherever you are. Thank you to Geoff Lemon for his great work today and the kind suggestion that you offer me baked goods. There’s plenty going on and I’m already on my third coffee so any confectionary is welcome. If not, I’ll settle for some comments, which are open at the bottom of the blog.

Let’s crack on, shall we?

4.02am BST

That’s enough for me today. Taking the wheel for the next few hours is Luke Henriques-Gomes. Don’t just sit there, offer him a biscuit.

4.01am BST

Cycling: He and his pilot Matthew Rotherham smash Fachie’s previous mark by more than a second! James Ball had set a new Paralympic record with his ride, but Fachie goes one better. The new mark is 58.038 seconds! So close to breaking that 58 mark.

3.55am BST

Cycling: James Ball in gold medal position, now Neil Fachie will race to decide it.

3.53am BST

The T11 category, where runners with blindfolds run alongside guides, ends with another gold for China. Liu goes out strong, starts to battle a bit towards the end, but holds on. Thalita Vitoria Simplicio de Silva is in silver position for Brazil, Angie Lizeth Pabon Mamian bronze for Colombia, ahead of Venezuela’s Linda Patricia Perez Lopez.

3.46am BST

Powerlifting: The men’s -72kg final has begun. The Malaysian Bonnie Bunyau Gustin has already lifted 225 kegs, five shy of his world record. Egypt in second spot, Thailand third.

3.43am BST

Long jump: No one has made ground on Fleur Jong yet. GB’s Stef Reid is in fourth place with 5.55m. As I type, the other Dutch jumper does improve her distance, from 5.60 to 5.78. Still in the bronze medal spot, but at least make that spot safer.

3.42am BST

Cycling: The men’s B 1000m time trial is underway. James Ball and Neil Fachie to race in the last two spots for Great Britain. Martin Gordon of Ireland currently leading out of six riders, with 1:01:545.

3.39am BST

Wheelchair basketball: Quarter time, and Australia lead 21-11. The Germans got a couple of baskets back.

3.32am BST

Wheelchair basketball: Up 21-7 now, the Aussies. They’re draining threes, defending clinically, this is imposing.

3.27am BST

Wheelchair basketball: The Aussie men have got going against Germany. They’re up 12-6 in the first quarter.

3.24am BST

Table tennis: USA’s Ian Seidenfeld is through to a gold-medal match, having wiped GB’s Paul Karabardak off the table in straight sets. Bronze for the Brit in the Class 6 paddle-whacking.

3.16am BST

Uhhhh... Fleur Jong has just set a new record with her first jump of the women’s T64 final. Talk about psyching out your opponents. The Dutchwoman has 6.16 metres, bettering her own 6.14 from earlier in the year. Now she can pretty much sit back and chill while the rest of the field fights for silver. Next best so far is 5.99.

3.12am BST

That’s good news, at least. The weather reports don’t look any less hot in Tokyo than they were yesterday, when matches were delayed, but the first match featuring hometown player Kamiji Yui is about to start. She’s out there hitting warmups with Argentine opponent Maria Florencia Moreno.

2.50am BST

In the men’s F12, the standing final, Kim Lopez Gonzalez betters his own world record by two centimetres, recording 17.04 metres with his final legal throw of the round. Spain takes the gold.

2.46am BST

Table tennis: Jenson van Emburgh loses his Class 3 match in straight sets to China’s Feng Panfeng, but that still gets the USA a bronze medal.

2.45am BST

There’s a surprise in the women’s comp, at least from traditional perceptions of power. China hold on 42 to 41. They led by 5 with 20 seconds to go, but the USA clawed back two baskets in those final moments. Couldn’t get a chance at a three-pointer though to tie things up.

China have four wins from four to lock up top spot in Group B. The USA currently one from three.

2.42am BST

Athletics: Gold for the Aleksandar Iaremchuk in the men’s 1500m T46. Bulgaria’s Hristiyan Stoyanov looked to have his measure coming into the last 200, as they ebbed and flowed, but the Russian held something in reserve. Charges past in the last 50 metres. David Emong third for Uganda, their first medal of the Games.

2.27am BST

Athletics: That is a remarkable performance. It might sound simple in racing terms: go out faster than your competitors and stay ahead. But distance races are always about tactics: staying with the pack, when to attack, when to pull away.

Scaroni doesn’t bother.

2.10am BST

Athletics: The women’s 5000m T54 is underway - the wheelchair racing. Australian star Madison de Rozario is prominent in this field.

2.08am BST

Table tennis: Yang Qian beats fellow Australian Melissa Tapper in straight sets. A shame for them that the draw brought them up against each other as early as the quarterfinals.

2.06am BST

Athletics: What a race from Jarryd Clifford. Gives it everything he has in the T13 distance final, but Spain’s Yassin Ouhdadi el Ataby has too much in the final 50 metres. Puts on a kick that takes him clear of Clifford, who visibly wilts in the background as he realises his rival will cross first. But a silver medal for Clifford, deserved, and a brilliant finish from el Ataby.

The Russian Aleksandr Costin gets bronze, with GB’s David Devine fourth. The T13 athletes are those with a vision impairment that isn’t total, so they can run unassisted.

1.59am BST

Spain over Italy and France, how Napoleonic. Susana Rodriguez wins the women’s PTVI ahead of Anna Barbaro and Anouck Curzillat.

In the men’s, Brad Snyder gets the gold, there’s another Spanish medal with Hector Laparra Calata’s silver, and Japan get bronze with Yoneoka Satoru.

1.53am BST

Table tennis: Ross Wilson loses his composure late against Nikolenko. Has several chances to take the third game, an arm wrestle that the Ukrainian eventually claims to lead 2-1. Then Wilson tenses up in the decisive game. Doesn’t play with confidence. A few tentative little shots, a lot of errors missing long, and Nikolenko doesn’t have to hit many winners to go into a semifinal and (in this format) a guaranteed bronze medal.

1.50am BST

Goalball: Canada score late to close the margin to 4-3, but the Australians hold on for their first win. Smiles of relief.

1.40am BST

Goalball: The Australians up 3-1, all to Horsburgh. This one squirms through the defence and is knocked away late, but the sideline ref rules that it has entirely crossed the line first.

1.38am BST

Table tennis: Shilton and McKibbin have both gone down, 3-0 and 3-1 respectively, but Wilson is locked 1-1 and point for point with Maksim Nicolenko of Ukraine.

1.32am BST

Goalball: Horsburgh scores again! Australia back in front 2-1. Then just keeping out a tricky one themselves.

1.30am BST

Goalball: Those wily Canadians score before halftime, finding a gap in an Australian defence that until now, to be fair, has been more gap than defence. It’s 1-1.

1.29am BST

Table tennis: With an Australia / Great Britain / USA skew, to the countries where this paper is based, there’s a stack of table tennis quarters and semifinals to watch out for today. Right now, three GB players are up simultaneously in quarters: Ross Wilson, Billy Shilton, and Aaron McKibbin. Those to come, in Tokyo time:

9:40am - Yang Qian and Melissa Tapper, two Australians playing one another
10:20 - Jenson van Emburgh (USA) in a Class 3 semifinal
11am - Paul Karabardak (GB) playing Ian Seidenfeld (USA) in a Class 6 semi
11:40 - William Bayley (GB) in a Class 7 semi
12:30 - Ma Lin (Aus) in a Class 9 semi
1pm - Samuel von Einem (Aus) in a Class 11 semi, Thomas Matthews (GB) in a Class 1

1.21am BST

Goalball: A third and penultimate chance for the Australian women, who got absolutely blown off the court by Israel in their first match, 10 goals down to bring about a mercy, which is when the game is called off. Then saw out the match against China but lost 6-0. They scored once from a penalty against Israel but haven’t scored in open play.

Until now! Meica Horsburgh drives in her team’s first goal using bounce that takes it over the central defender. And the bench goes wild. Australia leading Canada 1-0.

1.10am BST

The men’s PTS4 and women’s PTS2 have already been completed, with the first gold medal of day going to France’s Alexis Hanquinquant, with Hideki Uda claiming silver for the host nation and Alejandro Sanchez Palomero bronze for Spain. In the women’s event, it was a US one-two with Allysa Seely winning gold ahead of teammate Hailey Danz. Veronica Yoko Plebani of Italy won bronze.

The men’s and women’s PTVI races for those with visual impairments start are under way.

1.05am BST

Before we dive into today’s sport, take a moment to enjoy day three’s action with our photo gallery of the best shots of the day.

1.00am BST

Hello world, welcome to our ongoing coverage of these 2020 Paralympic Games. Some athletes are already up and running (and swimming and cycling), with four triathlon races starting early. More on those in a tick.

For now, and courtesy of my colleague Martin Belam, here are the other main points of focus on another busy day in Tokyo.

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Published on August 28, 2021 05:51

England thrash India by innings and 76 runs to win third Test – live reaction!

India collapsed on day four as England strolled to an easy win in the third Test thanks to some sharp bowling with the new ball

Read our report: Robinson rips through India on day fourGet in touch! Email Tim or tweet @TimdeLisle

1.30pm BST

Time for me to sign off. It’s been even more of a pleasure than usual: thanks for your company, correspondence, kind words and theories about The Hundred. Ali Martin’s report will be along shortly.

1.27pm BST

England are now the bookies’ favourites to win the series, on 17/10, with India slightly further out on 9/4, according to Oddschecker. The draw is 7/2, which looks like a good bet to me. India are the better team in general, but they keep leaving out one of their best players (Ashwin), and England now have the momentum as well as home advantage.

1.23pm BST

This is England’s first Test win since the triumph in Chennai, eight long Tests ago. It’s also Joe Root’s 27th win as captain, which takes him clear of Michael Vaughan in the league table of aggregate victories. Unassuming as ever, he puts this down to “the players I’ve had”.

1.17pm BST

The player of the match is ... Ollie Robinson. He didn’t just take seven wickets in the match: he secured his first victory for England, bounced back from a tough time earlier in the summer, and also returned in triumph to the county where he struggled at the start of his career. He was a hot-headed teenager then; now he’s a level-headed husband and father, a very accomplished seam bowler, and an instant senior player.

1.14pm BST

Can’t quite believe how well England played? Have a match report.

1.11pm BST

And here’s Joe Root. “Fantastic clinical performance from our bowlers,” he says, “to set the tone from the outset. And when the chances came we were ruthless and took them.” He’s too modest to mention that he took the big one himself, catching Kohli. It would have been easy to “lose our rag” after a frustrating day yesterday, but “we hung in there and got our rewards”. Asked about Jimmy Anderson, he says, “It’s just what he does, isn’t it? He’s the GOAT of Test cricket.”

1.06pm BST

It’s time for the highlights montage, set to There Goes The Fear by Doves (thank you Shazam). Also time for the presentations. Mike Atherton asks Virat Kohli how he explains the fact that India batted well yesterday, under cloud cover with the lights on, and not so well today, in bright sunshine. “Scoreboard pressure,” Kohli replies, but he acknowledges that the bowling today was “outstanding”. Any regrets over the toss? “No, not at all,” he says with a chuckle. “You saw how well the pitch played when England batted. The result is because of the way the two teams played – we were just not on the money and England were.”

1.00pm BST

“Jeepers England,” says Emma John on Twitter. “You’re the flaming worst, then you’re the absolute best. How’s a girl supposed to cope? #bloodylovecricket”

12.59pm BST

India lost eight wickets today, for 63, so it was very much back to day one. Mind you, England collapsed too, losing their last seven for 82 after cruising to 350 for three. It’s been a tale of three collapses, and two passages of excellent batting – England’s was just bigger, and longer, than India’s. Congratulations to the groundsman, for preparing a very sporting pitch, and to the weather gods, for laying on some swing.

12.56pm BST

An email comes in from Jeremy Boyce. “Should the umpires be checking Joss Buttler’s gloves for some kind of Duke magnets? How many has he taken in the match now?” Ha, I make it eight – the first five, and three more at the end. Ring composition.

12.53pm BST

Jimmy makes the point that a lot of players did well in this Test – Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed added a hundred for the first wicket, and “Ollie Robinson was brilliant... we bowled really well as a partnership”. He also mentions Dawid Malan, who made 70 on his return from the wilderness, and Craig Overton, who ended up with six for 61 in the match. Joe Root’s excellence is almost taken for granted at the moment: what made the difference here was that most of his team-mates stood up to be counted. It’s been a fantastic team performance.

12.49pm BST

“Yeah, it feels good.”

12.48pm BST

England have pulled it back to one-all, the scoreline that every good Test series produces. So much more fun than 2-0.

12.46pm BST

Siraj edges Overton to Bairstow in the slips, and that is that. A fabulous morning, and a famous victory.

12.44pm BST

Another one! Jadeja’s flurry of defiance is over as Overton finds some steep lift in the channel, and England’s dreamy morning continues.

12.41pm BST

99th over: India 278-8 (Jadeja 30, Bumrah 1) Those fours were all part of England’s masterplan to get a whole over at Jasprit Bumrah, but he rather ruins it by chipping Moeen for a single, first ball. And then Jadeja has enough faith in him to take a single himself. India trail by 76.

12.37pm BST

98th over: India 276-8 (Jadeja 29, Bumrah 0) Now that his five-for is in the bag, Robinson finally gets a rest. His spell lasted 90 minutes and included four wickets. “Quite brilliant,” says Nasser Hussain. Robinson is replaced by his brother from another mother, Craig Overton. Jadeja pushes him for four, uppish but effective, and then cuts for four more. And four more! He’s raced to 29 off 22 balls. Is this a nice little show of defiance, or the start of a homage to Botham 1981?

12.32pm BST

97th over: India 264-8 (Jadeja 17, Bumrah 0) What would you do if you were Ravi Jadeja, the old pro stood on the burning deck? Hit a six, that’s what. He gives Mo the charge and sends the ball sailing over Jimmy Anderson at long-on.

12.29pm BST

96th over: India 257-8 (Jadeja 10, Bumrah 0) It’s all over bar the trumpeting.

12.28pm BST

Robinson gets his fifth after all! He bowls the ball that England forgot to bowl at the Indian tail at Lord’s – in the channel, nipping away – and Ishant obliges with a thin edge. Robinson has five for 65 in this innings, and 23 wickets in his four-Test career. He holds the ball up in the air, to the acclaim of a crowd who know all about classic seam bowling. What a find he has been.

12.23pm BST

95th over: India 256-7 (Jadeja 9, Ishant 2) Ishant Sharma manages to push into the covers for a couple, so the deficit comes down into double figures. India, though, are still staring into the abyss marked “innings defeat”. They’ve lost five for 41 this morning. It’s lucky England don’t have their first-choice attack.

12.20pm BST

A surprise bowling change, and it works second ball! Moeen, probably brought on to bowl at the left-handed Jadeja, decides to dish up a beauty to the right-handed Shami, drifting away, turning back in and bowling him through the gate. England are in dreamland again: it’s back to day one.

12.17pm BST

94th over: India 253-6 (Jadeja 8, Shami 6) The finger goes up again! Only to be overturned on review. Robinson thinks he’s got another five-for as Shami plays all round a full nip-backer, but HawkEye reckons it was doing too much and would have missed the leg bail. Shami, who somehow turned into a decent tailender at Lord’s, cashes in with a tuck for two and a glance for four. India trail by 101.

12.12pm BST

93rd over: India 247-6 (Jadeja 8, Shami 0) Jadeja pushes Anderson crisply down the ground for four, just to remind everyone that there’s one decent batter left. Then he too edges, at catchable height, and he would be out if there was a gully. Even when his opponents are reeling at minus 100 for six, Joe Root shies away from all-out attack.

12.08pm BST

92nd over: India 239-6 (Jadeja 0, Shami 0) So England have got down to the Indian tail already. The game needs it to wag, even more than it did at Lord’s, but the momentum says that’s unlikely.

12.05pm BST

Pant goes too! A regulation edge to third slip, where Overton demonstrates his no-fuss all-round skills. What a morning for England: scrap those pessimistic calculations, they are storming to 1-1 here.

12.04pm BST

91st over: India 239-5 (Pant 1, Jadeja 0) India are in a deep hole now: all their glue has gone, with the possible exception of Jadeja. Pant can produce the pyrotechnics, and knock off the 115-run deficit, but who’s going to stick around to give them the extra 130-odd on top of that that they need to have a faint chance of a win?

12.01pm BST

That, by the way, was Jimmy Anderson’s 400th Test wicket at home. Before him, no English seamer had got 400 all over the world.

11.58am BST

One brings three! It’s a classic Anderson delivery, of the kind that the batsmen have been missing this morning – but now Rahane gets a nibble, and Jos Buttler does the rest. That’s drinks, with England all over India, as Shane Warne once said, like a cheap soup.

11.55am BST

90th over: India 237-4 (Rahane 9, Pant 0) So both the well-set batters are back in the dressing-room. And now we have the most explosive player in the Indian line-up – the guy who likes to dance down the track to the fast bowlers. Stay tuned!

11.51am BST

Got him now! And it’s not Anderson, it’s Ollie Robinson again, jagging one away off a good length to give Joe Root a reasonably straightforward catch to his left at first slip. That’s not the big one – it’s the absolutely huge one.

11.48am BST

Up at Robinson’s end for once, Kohli clips for four to reach fifty off 120 balls, his first chance to wave a bat this series. He’s been immensely determined, and disciplined. Now his team just need another hundred from him.

11.46am BST

89th over: India 229-3 (Kohli 47, Rahane 9) Kohli has been either leaving, defending or missing against Anderson, but now he finally finds a single, pushing into the covers off the first ball of the over. And it’s Rahane’s turn to play and miss. If his bat was an inch wider, he’d be gone.

11.42am BST

88th over: India 228-3 (Kohli 46, Rahane 9) Robinson v Rahane is now just a sideshow, fine cricketers though they are. This over is five dots and another drive for four, through the covers this time.

11.39am BST

87th over: India 224-3 (Kohli 46, Rahane 5) This is a fabulous over, a cracking little episode of The Anderson-Kohli Show. First, a caption tells us that Kohli has left 45 per cent of the deliveries he’s received in this innings, compared to 28pc earlier in the series. Then Anderson beats him again – with an even better outswinger, because it was closer to off stump, no chance of leaving that. And then, finally, Jimmy produces the inswinger, beats the inside edge, and goes up for LBW! But it’s a touch high. They don’t review, and HawkEye says they were right not to - going over middle. Then comes the big appeal for caught behind, and Kohli is almost on his way, until Rahane says you’ve got to review that. So a great over bears no fruit. Anderson is so good, and so old, that he may be about to be offered a contract by Manchester United.

11.37am BST

The bat clipped the pad! “Clear daylight,” as the TV umpire says.

11.36am BST

The big one! But he’s reviewing...

11.31am BST

86th over: India 224-3 (Kohli 46, Rahane 5) And now we get the first four of the morning – an off drive from Rahane off Robinson, not thumped, just eased, the shot of a player in better form than he was before that long vigil at Lord’s.

11.28am BST

85th over: India 219-3 (Kohli 45, Rahane 1) Rahane gets off the mark with a push into the covers, the first scoring stroke of the morning in the fifth over. Anderson finally gets the line of his outswinger right – fourth stump, not fifth – and has Kohli playing at thin air, the first dent in the imperial armour.

A thoughtful email comes in from Tom van der Gucht. “Watching the Blast last night, I briefly became confused as to why Jake Lintott was bowling for rather than against Birmingham.” I watched it too – wasn’t he great? “It struck me how invested I’d become in individual players rather than teams, or rather, franchises. During the final I’d been pumped up for the battle between Livingstone / Ali and Mills / Jordan / Garton / Lintott but couldn’t really care less about which team won.

11.23am BST

84th over: India 217-3 (Kohli 45, Rahane 0) Well done Mr Robinson, who has 20 wickets in his Test career at an average of just 19. He is now, officially, the best thing since Toby Roland-Jones.

11.18am BST

The breakthrough! And a good review by England! That was the killer inswinger, hitting off stump 3/4 of the way up, and the only surprise was that umpire Kettleborough didn’t fancy it. The new ball does the trick and Pujara misses out on what would have been a hard-earned hundred.

11.16am BST

It’s full, there’s no stroke...

11.14am BST

83rd over: India 215-2 (Pujara 91, Kohli 45) Anderson is still bowling at fifth stump, as the pros say, and Kohli is still busy leaving the ball well alone. Again, only the sixth ball of the over requires a shot to be played. Is Jimmy up to something? Let’s hope this is the old 13-card trick, with a killer inswinger on its way shortly.

11.10am BST

82nd over: India 215-2 (Pujara 91, Kohli 45) At the other end it’s Ollie Robinson, who’s made such an assured start to his Test career but seemed to be running low on fuel last night. He’s still a bit leggy and medium-priced, but his bounce and accuracy mean that no liberties can be taken. Pujara is watchful as ever, but he leaves one that’s too close to the off bail for comfort. In the stand, the trumpeter plays Mrs Robinson in Ollie’s honour, or his mum’s.

11.05am BST

81st over: India 215-2 (Pujara 91, Kohli 45) Anderson looks fit, which is a big plus for England, and he’s finding swing with the new ball as you’d expect. But the swing is all outwards and he’s starting wide of off, so Kohli can easily let the ball go until the last delivery, which pitches on middle-and-off. and demands a defensive prod. That’s a maiden, which will warm Jimmy’s stony old heart, still reeling from that spell yesterday of 2-0-20-0.

11.01am BST

It’s going to be Jimmy, so here comes another instalment of The Anderson-Kohli Show, season six.

10.50am BST

Morning everyone and welcome to the fourth day of an absorbing contest. The first two days of this match were action-packed. India collapsed in a heap – when in England, do as the English do – and England, just to be perverse, didn’t, or not until they had piled up a massive lead. Yesterday, though, the age-old rhythms of Test cricket reasserted themselves. Slow, slow, slow-slow, slow.

Finding themselves in a tight corner, where many teams would have flopped again, India lost only two wickets. Cheteshwar Pujara, their most stolid batter, set out his stall and even returned to fluency. Virat Kohli calmed down and carried on. India’s chances of a win, which had been rated at precisely 0 per cent by WinViz, shot up to 5.

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Published on August 28, 2021 05:32

Tokyo Paralympics day three: China surge to top of medal table and more GB gold – as it happened

The sport continued in Tokyo with plenty of medals up for grabs

3.13pm BST

2.27pm BST

And that’s it for another day. Some fantastic action again and we’ll be back tomorrow to see more history made. Will Bayley’s semi-final is tomorrow by the way. Thanks for reading and I’ll leave you with the current medal table.

2.20pm BST

Table tennis: The all-action Will Bayley assures himself of a medal after a 3-0 victory over Germany’s Bjoern Schnake. He wins 13-11, 11-8, 11-9 in 26 minutes. A great watch. The GB star is full of energy, bounding around and constantly letting out victory cries on each point. A medal is coming his way but what colour will it be?

2.10pm BST

Table tennis: It’s been an entertaining contest but Will Bayley looks to have the measure of his German opponent and takes Game 2 11-8 to go 2-0 up. He’s closing in on a medal.

2.07pm BST

Table tennis: Will Bayley survived game point in the opener to win it 13-11 and he’s 8-6 up in Game 2. Remember, victory here will assure him of a medal.

2.04pm BST

Equestrian: It’s confirmed - another medal for Great Britain and it’s silver for Natasha Baker! A superb performance on Keystone Dawn Chorus sees her finish behind gold medal winner Tobias Jorgensen of Denmark. Rixt van der Horst (appropriate name) takes bronze.

1.59pm BST

Table tennis: One of ParalympicsGB’s most familiar faces, Will Bayley, is currently in quarter-final action. The Strictly star wants a gold medal here in the Tokyo Metropolitan Gym and is taking on Bjoern Schnake but German has game point in the opener.

1.55pm BST

Equestrian: We’re nearly done but there’s going to be one final GB medal today as Natasha Baker sits in silver medal position with just one rider remaining. Watch this space!

1.51pm BST

Athletics: Result in from the Women’s seated discus and it’s joy for Poland as a world-record throw of 28.74 from Roza Kozakowska seals victory. Ukraine’s Anastasia Moskalenko takes silver and Algeria’s Mounia Gasmi the bronze.

1.44pm BST

Athletics: There was disappointment for David Weir in his 5000m T54 heat earlier. It just didn’t happen for the Weir Wolf today as the six-time Paralympics gold medal winner failed to make the top three. Disappointing, but he tweeted this yesterday and still has other events to come.

What ever happens at these Paralympics I’m proud of myself to get to my 6th games, in all the years of racing I’ve never been proud of my achievements until now. pic.twitter.com/urJNgm43cu

1.35pm BST

Table Tennis: Victory for Australia’s Samuel von Einem over Spain’s Eduardo Cuesta Martinez in their quarter-final clash at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gym. Von Einem drops the opening game but hits back to win 3-1.

1.29pm BST

Extreme heat delays wheelchair tennis: A report from our man in Tokyo.

“There was a new record at the Paralympic Games on Friday, but one organisers would rather not have been set, after play was suspended due to extreme heat.

1.23pm BST

Athletics: In the men’s seated shot put, it’s gold for Brazil’s Wallace Santos with a world record throw of 12.63. Ruzhdi Ruzhdi (so good they named him twice) takes silver for Bulgaria while Poland’s Lech Stolteman bags bronze.

1.20pm BST

Thanks Geoff. A few things still to keep an eye out for as the evening comes to a close. Stay tuned!

1.12pm BST

Phew. Quite the night.

12.56pm BST

Table tennis: Australia’s Ma Lin smashes through his Class 9 quarterfinal in straight sets, while Great Britain’s Joshua Stacey loses a five-setter after leading 2-1 after three.

12.54pm BST

Equestrian: Keep an eye on Great Britain’s Natasha Baker, she’s just gone top of the Grade III dressage riding Keystone Dawn Chorus. Still seven riders to come but she’s given herself a chance. Australia’s Emma Booth is out of the running in seventh.

12.53pm BST

Long jump: Gold for Di Dongdong in the men’s T11! No one improves on their best jump when they go for their sixth and final, but Di soars gracefully with the last jump of the night to go well past six metres for a final exclamation mark on his night. That final jump gets a red flag, but his night’s best was 6.47 and that gets him gold.

USA silver for Lex Gillette, an amazing name that sounds like a 70s action hero. And bronze for Ronan Pallier of France.

12.48pm BST

Wheelchair basketball: And in the East Asia derby, Japan lead Korea 14-9 in the men’s b-ball game.

12.47pm BST

Wheelchair basketball: In the meantime, Great Britain women are off to a shocker against Germany, down 7-18 in the first quarter.

12.47pm BST

Wheelchair rugby: New Zealand got knocked around by the USA in game one, now they’re getting done by Canada in game two. It’s 28-19 to the north of the north in the third quarter.

12.39pm BST

Athletics: Some very long events are moving along gradually, with athletes allowed six throws or jumps. Brazil currently leads the men’s seated shot put, Ukraine the women’s seated discus/club, and China the men’s long jump for the T11 visually impaired category.

12.37pm BST

Table tennis: Another Great Britain result, with Paul Karabardak winning his quarterfinal in the men’s Class 6 singles.

12.35pm BST

Men’s 400 metres: A home gold on the athletics track for Sato Tomoki in the men’s 400m T52 race. And a Games record to boot, running 55.39. Japanese bronze as well, from Ueyonabaru Hirokazu, either side of Raymond Martin with a USA silver.

12.24pm BST

Wheelchair fencing: Russia win gold in the men’s épée team competition, beating China, plus bronze in the women’s. China win gold in the women’s, beating Ukraine.

11.50am BST

Powerlifting: Another Chinese gold with Liu Lei lifting 198kg in the men’s -65kg division. Amir Jafari Arangeh (Iran) takes silver, Hocine Better (Algeria) bronze.

11.49am BST

Men’s 100 metres: The T47 category follows immediately, with a Brazilian gold-bronze double. Petrucio Ferreira dos Santos wins, outside his own world record time of 10.53, with Washington Junior third. Between them is Michal Derus of Poland.

11.46am BST

Men’s 100 metres: On the athletics track, gold for USA’s Nick Mayhugh in the T37 category, shaving a couple of hundredths off his own world record to run it in 10.95 seconds.

Andrei Vdovin (Russia) silver, Saptoyoga Purnomo (Indonesia) bronze.

11.44am BST

Swimming: The last event for the night in the pool is the women’s 400m S13. Australia’s Katja Dedekind leading into the second lap, but she probably won’t have the gas to sustain that pace. Italy’s Carlotta Gilli is up to the front by the 150 mark. Then Ukraine’s Anna Stetsenko comes up to Gilli after the 200.

They turn into the last 100 neck and neck. Stetsenko kicks away up to the 350, then drives to the wall almost uncontested in the end. Her fourth Games gold, after three in Rio. Gilli silver, and Dedekind manages to hang on for bronze, a brave swim from the young Australian. Her second bronze.

11.36am BST

Swimming: His Paralympic record now stands at 14 gold, one silver, one bronze. His third gold in Tokyo. Holds the world record in the men’s 400m S13, the category for partial visual impairment. Doesn’t break that record today, but doesn’t need to, shaking off the two swimmers either side of him in the last 50 metres to win by the length of the straight.

All of Belarus’ medals at Tokyo so far have come from Boki. Kyrylo Garashchenko wins silver for Ukraine, Alex Portal bronze for France.

11.26am BST

On the medal tally, China is out to 17 gold ahead of Great Britain’s 9, then Australia and the Russians on 7.

11.25am BST

They get the job done, 45-38 over Ukraine. Second medal at these games for Piers Gilliver and Dmitri Coutya, after their individual successes. Oliver Lam-Watson was the third fencer, who struggled in his bouts, but the other two won handily enough to offset that and get a team bronze.

11.22am BST

Women’s 200m final: Over to the track, and the women’s 200m T37. She won gold in Rio, now she backs that up here. Jiang Fenfen comes up to take silver in a Chinese one-two, both of them passing France’s Mandy Francois-Elie who set the early pace but was running in gumboots for the final 40 metres.

11.15am BST

Table tennis: Australia’s Rebecca Julian has lost her quarterfinal in the Class 6 singles to Maliak Alieva of Russia. Gave it her all. Well played.

11.11am BST

Swimming: Tiffany Thomas Kane surges home to take bronze for Australia in the 200m individual medley SM7. Danielle Dorris was clear in second place halfway through the freestyle lap, but it’s the Canadian’s weakest stroke. She trailed Mallory Weggeman, then got overtaken by Ahalya Lettenberger, the two Americans taking gold and silver. Then right on the wall, Dorris is outstretched by Thomas Kane who snatches bronze.

11.07am BST

Swimming: It’s a Chinese goldslide in the 50m butterfly S5. Two gold, one silver, two bronze across the men’s and women’s races. These are the athletes who have no use of their arms, making their swimming style a true feat.

Zheng Tao, Wang Lichao, and Yuan Weiyi take out the men’s triple, with Zheng demolishing a world record in the process by more than two tenths of a second - extraordinary over 50 metres.

11.02am BST

Judo: Gold for Cherine Abdellaoui in the women’s -52kg final, Algeria’s first medal of the Games. Silver for Canada’s Priscilla Gagne.

The two bronze medals in the men’s -66kg go to Japan’s Seto Yujiro and Azerbaijan (again!) with Namig Abasli. The gold goes to Uzbekistan, with Uchkun Kuranbaev beating Spain’s Sergio Ibanez Banon.

11.00am BST

Equestrian: In the Grade I dressage, gold for the USA’s Roxanne Trunnell. Latvia gets silver via Rihards Snikus, and Italy’s Sara Morganti takes bronze.

10.59am BST

Wheelchair rugby: United States beat Great Britain. Under the pressure, there’s a turnover as GB attack down the sideline. Even had they scored to draw level, the US would have had time to score again with very little clock left. But that fumble seals it. And in the end the USA will win 50-48, after trailing by six tries early in the game. Some comeback.

The USA tops Pool B with three wins from three. GB second with two.

10.55am BST

Wheelchair rugby: 47 tries apiece with a minute to go, USA and Great Britain.

10.49am BST

An unfortunate inevitability of athletic competition these days, there are always statements like these. From Reuters:

Polish track cyclist Marcin Polak, who won a bronze medal at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo, has been provisionally suspended after testing positive for the banned blood booster EPO (erythropoietin), the International Cycling Union (UCI) said on Friday. “The rider has been provisionally suspended pending the final adjudication of the matter. He is thus not allowed to participate in the Men’s B 1000m time trial of the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 scheduled for 28 August 2021,” the UCI said in a statement. “The consequences on the bronze medal he obtained in the Men’s B 4000m individual pursuit of the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 will be determined by the relevant disciplinary panel.” Polak, 38, won his bronze medal on Wednesday. He also claimed two time trial world titles in 2015 and 2017, and won an individual pursuit world title on the track in 2019.

10.45am BST

Wheelchair rugby: The Americans might take the lead here. Some heavy defensive work blocks off the line once, twice, three times, and eventually no try is awarded to GB. Down the other end, USA will score and lead 40-39! Five minutes left.

10.43am BST

Wheelchair rugby: 38-38, six minutes to go...

10.37am BST

Wheelchair rugby: Great Britain try to run down the clock on a couple of plays there, and manage to get into three-quarter time with a lead 35-34. It’s going to be a tussle.

10.34am BST

Wheelchair rugby: It’s try for try in the GB-USA game, which is 33-33 approaching the end of the third quarter.

10.21am BST

Swimming: The 50m freestyle S11 races have been swum. Wendell Belarmino Pereira scores gold for Brazil, they’ve had a really good meet. Hua Dongdong gets silver, his second medal for China in 24 hours, and Edgaras Matakas gets Lithuania’s first medal of the Games with bronze.

10.02am BST

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

9.55am BST

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.

9.54am BST

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).

9.46am BST

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.

9.39am BST

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

9.37am BST

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.

9.31am BST

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.

9.21am BST

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.

9.18am BST

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.

9.16am BST

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.

9.10am BST

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.

8.38am BST

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.

8.37am BST

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

8.35am BST

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

8.28am BST

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.

8.07am BST

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

8.06am BST

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

8.03am BST

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.

7.51am BST

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.

7.39am BST

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.

7.35am BST

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

7.32am BST

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.

7.29am BST

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.

7.23am BST

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.

7.21am BST

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.

7.11am BST

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.

7.03am BST

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.

6.48am BST

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

6.44am BST

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.

6.40am BST

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.

6.34am BST

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.

6.30am BST

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?

6.26am BST

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.

6.12am BST

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.

6.09am BST

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.

6.05am BST

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.

6.00am BST

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

5.56am BST

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).

5.43am BST

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.

5.12am BST

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.

5.04am BST

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.

5.02am BST

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.

4.57am BST

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.”

4.52am BST

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.

4.46am BST

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.

4.37am BST

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.

4.29am BST

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

4.20am BST

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.

4.12am BST

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.

4.04am BST

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.

3.57am BST

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.

3.50am BST

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

3.45am BST

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.

3.36am BST

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

3.23am BST

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.

3.11am BST

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.

2.59am BST

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

2.49am BST

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.

2.43am BST

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

2.42am BST

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.

2.36am BST

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.

2.31am BST

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

2.28am BST

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.

2.20am BST

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).

2.13am BST

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.

2.03am BST

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.

1.54am BST

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.

1.51am BST

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

1.48am BST

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.

1.43am BST

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.

1.38am BST

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.

1.36am BST

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.

1.33am BST

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.

1.28am BST

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.

1.15am BST

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.

View more on Geoff Lemon's website »

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Published on August 27, 2021 06:27

Tokyo Paralympics: China surge to top of medal table, athletics and more – live!

More medals on offer on another busy day at Paralympic GamesResults | Medal table | Full coverage Sign up for the Guardian’s daily Paralympic briefing Email Geoff, tweet @GeoffLemonSport or comment below

1.59pm BST

Table tennis: One of ParalympicsGB’s most familiar faces, Will Bayley, is currently in quarter-final action. The Strictly star wants a gold medal here in the Tokyo Metropolitan Gym and is taking on Bjoern Schnake but German has game point in the opener.

1.55pm BST

Equestrian: We’re nearly done but there’s going to be one final GB medal today as Natasha Baker sits in silver medal position with just one rider remaining. Watch this space!

1.51pm BST

Athletics: Result in from the Women’s seated discus and it’s joy for Poland as a world-record throw of 28.74 from Roza Kozakowska seals victory. Ukraine’s Anastasia Moskalenko takes silver and Algeria’s Mounia Gasmi the bronze.

1.44pm BST

Athletics: There was disappointment for David Weir in his 5000m T54 heat earlier. It just didn’t happen for the Weir Wolf today as the six-time Paralympics gold medal winner failed to make the top three. Disappointing, but he tweeted this yesterday and still has other events to come.

What ever happens at these Paralympics I’m proud of myself to get to my 6th games, in all the years of racing I’ve never been proud of my achievements until now. pic.twitter.com/urJNgm43cu

1.35pm BST

Table Tennis: Victory for Australia’s Samuel von Einem over Spain’s Eduardo Cuesta Martinez in their quarter-final clash at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gym. Von Einem drops the opening game but hits back to win 3-1.

1.29pm BST

Extreme heat delays wheelchair tennis: A report from our man in Tokyo.

“There was a new record at the Paralympic Games on Friday, but one organisers would rather not have been set, after play was suspended due to extreme heat.

1.23pm BST

Athletics: In the men’s seated shot put, it’s gold for Brazil’s Wallace Santos with a world record throw of 12.63. Ruzhdi Ruzhdi (so good they named him twice) takes silver for Bulgaria while Poland’s Lech Stolteman bags bronze.

1.20pm BST

Thanks Geoff. A few things still to keep an eye out for as the evening comes to a close. Stay tuned!

1.12pm BST

Phew. Quite the night.

12.56pm BST

Table tennis: Australia’s Ma Lin smashes through his Class 9 quarterfinal in straight sets, while Great Britain’s Joshua Stacey loses a five-setter after leading 2-1 after three.

12.54pm BST

Equestrian: Keep an eye on Great Britain’s Natasha Baker, she’s just gone top of the Grade III dressage riding Keystone Dawn Chorus. Still seven riders to come but she’s given herself a chance. Australia’s Emma Booth is out of the running in seventh.

12.53pm BST

Long jump: Gold for Di Dongdong in the men’s T11! No one improves on their best jump when they go for their sixth and final, but Di soars gracefully with the last jump of the night to go well past six metres for a final exclamation mark on his night. That final jump gets a red flag, but his night’s best was 6.47 and that gets him gold.

USA silver for Lex Gillette, an amazing name that sounds like a 70s action hero. And bronze for Ronan Pallier of France.

12.48pm BST

Wheelchair basketball: And in the East Asia derby, Japan lead Korea 14-9 in the men’s b-ball game.

12.47pm BST

Wheelchair basketball: In the meantime, Great Britain women are off to a shocker against Germany, down 7-18 in the first quarter.

12.47pm BST

Wheelchair rugby: New Zealand got knocked around by the USA in game one, now they’re getting done by Canada in game two. It’s 28-19 to the north of the north in the third quarter.

12.39pm BST

Athletics: Some very long events are moving along gradually, with athletes allowed six throws or jumps. Brazil currently leads the men’s seated shot put, Ukraine the women’s seated discus/club, and China the men’s long jump for the T11 visually impaired category.

12.37pm BST

Table tennis: Another Great Britain result, with Paul Karabardak winning his quarterfinal in the men’s Class 6 singles.

12.35pm BST

Men’s 400 metres: A home gold on the athletics track for Sato Tomoki in the men’s 400m T52 race. And a Games record to boot, running 55.39. Japanese bronze as well, from Ueyonabaru Hirokazu, either side of Raymond Martin with a USA silver.

12.24pm BST

Wheelchair fencing: Russia win gold in the men’s épée team competition, beating China, plus bronze in the women’s. China win gold in the women’s, beating Ukraine.

11.50am BST

Powerlifting: Another Chinese gold with Liu Lei lifting 198kg in the men’s -65kg division. Amir Jafari Arangeh (Iran) takes silver, Hocine Better (Algeria) bronze.

11.49am BST

Men’s 100 metres: The T47 category follows immediately, with a Brazilian gold-bronze double. Petrucio Ferreira dos Santos wins, outside his own world record time of 10.53, with Washington Junior third. Between them is Michal Derus of Poland.

11.46am BST

Men’s 100 metres: On the athletics track, gold for USA’s Nick Mayhugh in the T37 category, shaving a couple of hundredths off his own world record to run it in 10.95 seconds.

Andrei Vdovin (Russia) silver, Saptoyoga Purnomo (Indonesia) bronze.

11.44am BST

Swimming: The last event for the night in the pool is the women’s 400m S13. Australia’s Katja Dedekind leading into the second lap, but she probably won’t have the gas to sustain that pace. Italy’s Carlotta Gilli is up to the front by the 150 mark. Then Ukraine’s Anna Stetsenko comes up to Gilli after the 200.

They turn into the last 100 neck and neck. Stetsenko kicks away up to the 350, then drives to the wall almost uncontested in the end. Her fourth Games gold, after three in Rio. Gilli silver, and Dedekind manages to hang on for bronze, a brave swim from the young Australian. Her second bronze.

11.36am BST

Swimming: His Paralympic record now stands at 14 gold, one silver, one bronze. His third gold in Tokyo. Holds the world record in the men’s 400m S13, the category for partial visual impairment. Doesn’t break that record today, but doesn’t need to, shaking off the two swimmers either side of him in the last 50 metres to win by the length of the straight.

All of Belarus’ medals at Tokyo so far have come from Boki. Kyrylo Garashchenko wins silver for Ukraine, Alex Portal bronze for France.

11.26am BST

On the medal tally, China is out to 17 gold ahead of Great Britain’s 9, then Australia and the Russians on 7.

11.25am BST

They get the job done, 45-38 over Ukraine. Second medal at these games for Piers Gilliver and Dmitri Coutya, after their individual successes. Oliver Lam-Watson was the third fencer, who struggled in his bouts, but the other two won handily enough to offset that and get a team bronze.

11.22am BST

Women’s 200m final: Over to the track, and the women’s 200m T37. She won gold in Rio, now she backs that up here. Jiang Fenfen comes up to take silver in a Chinese one-two, both of them passing France’s Mandy Francois-Elie who set the early pace but was running in gumboots for the final 40 metres.

11.15am BST

Table tennis: Australia’s Rebecca Julian has lost her quarterfinal in the Class 6 singles to Maliak Alieva of Russia. Gave it her all. Well played.

11.11am BST

Swimming: Tiffany Thomas Kane surges home to take bronze for Australia in the 200m individual medley SM7. Danielle Dorris was clear in second place halfway through the freestyle lap, but it’s the Canadian’s weakest stroke. She trailed Mallory Weggeman, then got overtaken by Ahalya Lettenberger, the two Americans taking gold and silver. Then right on the wall, Dorris is outstretched by Thomas Kane who snatches bronze.

11.07am BST

Swimming: It’s a Chinese goldslide in the 50m butterfly S5. Two gold, one silver, two bronze across the men’s and women’s races. These are the athletes who have no use of their arms, making their swimming style a true feat.

Zheng Tao, Wang Lichao, and Yuan Weiyi take out the men’s triple, with Zheng demolishing a world record in the process by more than two tenths of a second - extraordinary over 50 metres.

11.02am BST

Judo: Gold for Cherine Abdellaoui in the women’s -52kg final, Algeria’s first medal of the Games. Silver for Canada’s Priscilla Gagne.

The two bronze medals in the men’s -66kg go to Japan’s Seto Yujiro and Azerbaijan (again!) with Namig Abasli. The gold goes to Uzbekistan, with Uchkun Kuranbaev beating Spain’s Sergio Ibanez Banon.

11.00am BST

Equestrian: In the Grade I dressage, gold for the USA’s Roxanne Trunnell. Latvia gets silver via Rihards Snikus, and Italy’s Sara Morganti takes bronze.

10.59am BST

Wheelchair rugby: United States beat Great Britain. Under the pressure, there’s a turnover as GB attack down the sideline. Even had they scored to draw level, the US would have had time to score again with very little clock left. But that fumble seals it. And in the end the USA will win 50-48, after trailing by six tries early in the game. Some comeback.

The USA tops Pool B with three wins from three. GB second with two.

10.55am BST

Wheelchair rugby: 47 tries apiece with a minute to go, USA and Great Britain.

10.49am BST

An unfortunate inevitability of athletic competition these days, there are always statements like these. From Reuters:

Polish track cyclist Marcin Polak, who won a bronze medal at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo, has been provisionally suspended after testing positive for the banned blood booster EPO (erythropoietin), the International Cycling Union (UCI) said on Friday. “The rider has been provisionally suspended pending the final adjudication of the matter. He is thus not allowed to participate in the Men’s B 1000m time trial of the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 scheduled for 28 August 2021,” the UCI said in a statement. “The consequences on the bronze medal he obtained in the Men’s B 4000m individual pursuit of the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 will be determined by the relevant disciplinary panel.” Polak, 38, won his bronze medal on Wednesday. He also claimed two time trial world titles in 2015 and 2017, and won an individual pursuit world title on the track in 2019.

10.45am BST

Wheelchair rugby: The Americans might take the lead here. Some heavy defensive work blocks off the line once, twice, three times, and eventually no try is awarded to GB. Down the other end, USA will score and lead 40-39! Five minutes left.

10.43am BST

Wheelchair rugby: 38-38, six minutes to go...

10.37am BST

Wheelchair rugby: Great Britain try to run down the clock on a couple of plays there, and manage to get into three-quarter time with a lead 35-34. It’s going to be a tussle.

10.34am BST

Wheelchair rugby: It’s try for try in the GB-USA game, which is 33-33 approaching the end of the third quarter.

10.21am BST

Swimming: The 50m freestyle S11 races have been swum. Wendell Belarmino Pereira scores gold for Brazil, they’ve had a really good meet. Hua Dongdong gets silver, his second medal for China in 24 hours, and Edgaras Matakas gets Lithuania’s first medal of the Games with bronze.

10.02am BST

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

9.55am BST

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.

9.54am BST

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).

9.46am BST

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.

9.39am BST

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

9.37am BST

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.

9.31am BST

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.

9.21am BST

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.

9.18am BST

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.

9.16am BST

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.

9.10am BST

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.

8.38am BST

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.

8.37am BST

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

8.35am BST

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

8.28am BST

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.

8.07am BST

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

8.06am BST

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

8.03am BST

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.

7.51am BST

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.

7.39am BST

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.

7.35am BST

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

7.32am BST

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.

7.29am BST

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.

7.23am BST

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.

7.21am BST

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.

7.11am BST

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.

7.03am BST

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.

6.48am BST

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

6.44am BST

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.

6.40am BST

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.

6.34am BST

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.

6.30am BST

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?

6.26am BST

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.

6.12am BST

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.

6.09am BST

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.

6.05am BST

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.

6.00am BST

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

5.56am BST

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).

5.43am BST

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.

5.12am BST

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.

5.04am BST

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.

5.02am BST

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.

4.57am BST

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.”

4.52am BST

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.

4.46am BST

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.

4.37am BST

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.

4.29am BST

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

4.20am BST

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.

4.12am BST

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.

4.04am BST

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.

3.57am BST

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.

3.50am BST

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

3.45am BST

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.

3.36am BST

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

3.23am BST

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.

3.11am BST

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.

2.59am BST

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

2.49am BST

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.

2.43am BST

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

2.42am BST

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.

2.36am BST

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.

2.31am BST

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

2.28am BST

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.

2.20am BST

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).

2.13am BST

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.

2.03am BST

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.

1.54am BST

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.

1.51am BST

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

1.48am BST

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.

1.43am BST

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.

1.38am BST

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.

1.36am BST

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.

1.33am BST

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.

1.28am BST

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.

1.15am BST

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.

View more on Geoff Lemon's website »

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Published on August 27, 2021 06:00

Paralympic Games day two: GB gold rush and more – as it happened

The sport continued in Tokyo with plenty of medals up for grabs

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.

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Published on August 26, 2021 06:59

Tokyo Paralympics day two: GB gold rush, wheelchair rugby and more – live!

More medals on offer on packed second day in TokyoResults | Latest medal table | Full Paralympics coverage Double WR gold for GB in pool | Van Gass leads cycling one-two Email Paul, tweet @campbellwpaul or comment below

1.42pm BST

The view from Australia.

1.41pm BST

Wheelchair rugby: A great result for Great Britain, who have beaten New Zealand 60-37 in their group game in the wheelchair rugby event.

Great Britain dominated the match from start to finish. They were 16-5 up after the first quarter, 32-17 up at half-time, 45-27 up with a quarter to go and won it 60-37.

Another win for GB Fantastic game @ParalympicsNZ #roadtotokyo #wheelchairrugby #paralympicgames #paralympics pic.twitter.com/YT7swlBkbV

1.28pm BST

Swimming: Anastasia Pagonis won gold for USA in the pool earlier.

Tom Lutz, our sports editor in the US, has the full story – which includes some lovely quotes from the 17-year-old:

Anastasia Pagonis cheered Team USA – and her millions of fans on social media – after winning her country’s first gold of the Tokyo Paralympics. The teenager was racing in the first major international competition of her career but, if she was nervous, she didn’t show it. She finished more than 10 seconds ahead of the field to win gold in the 400m freestyle S11. Her time of 4min 54.49 seconds was also a world record. Liesette Bruinsma of the Netherlands and China’s Cai Liwen took silver and bronze respectively.

Pagonis was already one of the highest-profile athletes coming into the Tokyo Games even before she won gold. She has more than 2 million followers on TikTok, where she uses her platform to give an insight into the life of a blind athlete – as well as introducing fans to her co-star, guide dog Radar. One video in which she explained how she brushes her teeth clocked up 12m views.

“I do this for that random little girl that’s sitting out there scrolling through her phone and just listens to one of my videos and hopefully I can help her and change her life in some way,” she told the Washington Post. “And I do it for myself. People are going to make fun of me. People are going to laugh at me. I might as well make fun of myself.”

1.24pm BST

Goalball: Canada have beaten Israel 6-2 in their group game in the women’s goalball event.

The sport has a big Canadian heritage – especially when it comes to their women’s team.

1.15pm BST

Cycling: Fin Graham won a silver medal for Great Britain earlier.

The 21-year-old from Strathpeffer, in Scotland, set a new world record in the semi-final and then his teammate, Jaco Van Gass, broke that record in the final as he picked up the gold medal. Graham is delighted with his silver medal.

PARALYMPIC SILVER MEDALIST
.
I don’t really know what to say?! Thank you so much to everybody that got up in the early hours of the morning to watch my racing! The amount of messages I have received has been unbelievable and I will respond to everyone as it means so much❤️ pic.twitter.com/Crap8sWI4Y

1.09pm BST

Wheelchair rugby: We are into the final quarter and Great Britain are beating New Zealand 46-27.

USA and Canada are the other two teams in this group.

1.04pm BST

Equestrian: The British athlete Sophie Wells is currently in action in the Grade V dressage event. (There are five grades in total).

I love this little bit of her backstory. Sophie’s first experience of horses was when she sat on a pony at a friend’s birthday party. Despite being very allergic to horses, she was soon she was attending her local riding school and building a connection with the animals.

12.55pm BST

Goalball: Canada have a 1-0 lead over Israel in their group game in the women’s goalball event.

The sport has a fascinating backstory – it was devised in 1946 as a rehabilitation activity for veterans of the second world war. Here’s the story of goalball.

12.50pm BST

Fencing: Wheelchair fencer Piers Gilliver won gold for Great Britain earlier. What a fantastic photo of his moment of glory.

Gilliver’s training partner, Dimitri Coutya, won a bronze.

This is what it means to @PiersGilliver

Magic. Just magic.#ImpossibleToIgnore #Paralympics pic.twitter.com/HRIPuTpAQJ

12.45pm BST

Tell us: Are you enjoying the Paralympics? If so, we want to hear from you.

12.41pm BST

Wheelchair rugby: Great Britain are winning 33-17 against New Zealand at the halfway point of their group game in the men’s wheelchair rugby tournament.

Great Britain finished fifth in the event in Rio five years ago, when Australia beat USA by a single point in the final.

12.35pm BST

Thanks Geoff and hello everyone.

We’re coming towards the end of the second day of action at the Paralympics. What have you made of the event so far?

12.34pm BST

A blur of activity, as ever.

12.20pm BST

Wheelchair rugby: Great Britain are smashing up the Kiwis in the late game, leading 17-5 after the first quarter. Can’t see a comeback from that position. This after the New Zealanders lost to the USA yesterday.

12.18pm BST

Equestrian: Gold for Sanne Voets and Demantur in the Grade IV dressage. Ridolpho Riskalla gets silver, Manon Claeys bronze.

That goes: Netherlands, Brazil, Belgium.

12.14pm BST

Swimming: They go top of the table on all measures, and obliterate the world record in the 4x50m relay. This is the race that uses athletes from different ability classes and genders to meet an overall team mixture.

China’s team is Yuan Weiyi (S5), Lu Dong (S5, SM5), Zhang Li (who we met earlier, SB4, S5), and Zheng Tao (S5).

11.59am BST

Swimming: The women’s 100m breaststroke SB8 category brings Ireland into the medal tally with a gold. Ellen Keane holds off New Zealand’s Sophie Pascoe for the win, with Adelina Razetdinova grabbing another Russian bronze behind them.

What a moment for Keane. She’s only 26 but has swum at Beijing, London, and Rio, and until now her best was a single bronze medal. She did win this event at the European championships three years ago, but had never finished higher than third at the worlds. Now she’s a Paralympic gold medallist.

11.46am BST

Six golds each at this stage, equal with China. A three-way tie on gold. China has the most overall medals though, currently 20 to GB’s 16 and Australia’s 14.

11.45am BST

Katja Dedekind gets in third in the women’s 100m S13, a big result for the 20 year old, and her best in her short history at major meets.

Gia Pergolini is the winner, breaking her own world record to become the first woman under 1:05. She was out of the medals last night in the butterfly but owns this event. Bronze for Carlotta Gilli, as the Italian pool success keeps coming.

11.40am BST

Swimming: This bloke. Gold medal? Of course he did. The Belarussian won six in Rio, five in London, and he’s got his second in two nights here. Last night in the butterfly, tonight in the men’s 100m S13 category.

World record? You betcha. 56.36 tonight, shaving a delicate third of a second off his Rio time.

11.30am BST

Powerlifting: Gold for David Degtyarev and Kazakhstan, after he lifts an absurd 174 kegs in the men’s -54kg category. France silver, Greece bronze, with Axel Bourlon and Dimitros Bakochristos lifting 165kg.

I’m not sure how they separate those last two medals, given Bourlon had one failed lift and Bakochristos didn’t. Let me know if you know.

11.23am BST

Wheelchair fencing: Things didn’t work out for him in the sabre yesterday, but in the men’s épée Category A there’s a gold medal for Great Britain. Gulliver outstabs, outpoints and outpokes Maxim Shaburov 15-9. Silver for Russia.

11.10am BST

Swimming: That’s one of the nicest moments of the Games so far. Chantalle Zijderveld and Lisa Kruger win a Netherlands one-two in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB9. Zijderveld gets a world record, too. Keira Stephens gets bronze, and looks overwhelmed by it. Immediately after the race, the three of them gather at one of the lane ropes. They embrace each other in a triplet, and it’s not the cursory post-race hug. They hold on, and they’re laughing, and crying, and all looking completely delighted in what they’ve each achieved. I don’t know the back story, perhaps they train together or have other shared history, but it’s a special thing to see.

11.03am BST

Wheelchair rugby: That was a tough contest, all the way through. The French fought hard, but Australia managed to force a couple of key errors that made the difference in the end. Ryley Batt scored 25 times, his counterpart captain Jonathan Hivernat 29 times.

But Australia stay alive. After a surprise one-try loss to Denmark to open their campaign, that was the concern. And they trailed for much of this match, before getting ahead in the second half.

10.55am BST

Wheelchair rugby: Hivernat scores the first try of the night in reverse, showing some skills backing through a congested goal line. But Batt counters it, rolling clear for his 23rd try of the night. The duel between these two has been special.

It’s 45-47.

10.51am BST

Wheelchair rugby: Another break in possession! The French are rattled now. They lose possession near the sideline, and Batt pounces on the counter to make it 41-44. Surely that’s enough for Australia to hold onto.

10.50am BST

Wheelchair rugby: Australia push out to a two-try break! Ryley Batt, an inspiration as captain, piledrives into a French player and pushes him back across the halfway line. Going back over the line while in possession means a turnover, and Australia double their present lead to make it 41-43. That can be all the difference in a turn and turn about sort of sport like this.

10.48am BST

Goalball: Ukraine beat Germany 11-5 in the pool match a bit earlier.

10.47am BST

Wheelchair rugby: 41 plays 41 between Australia and France, with under five minutes to go.

10.47am BST

Further on the Individual Test Grade II, it qualifies horses and riders for a later event, but also carries medals in its own right. That means that Lee Pearson has won gold and Georgia Wilson bronze, with Pepo Puch taking silver for Austria.

10.40am BST

Wheelchair rugby: The Australians’ defence has got super intense in the last few minutes. They block out the French until the shot clock runs down, causing French captain Hivernat to call a timeout with less than a second to go. Which means the clock resets with more time on it when they restart. Can’t say that rule seems reasonable, on the face of it. Australia’s Howe gets sent off for a violation of some kind, for a quick sin-bin. He’s back after one play.

But the French manage to pull the move that Australia did before half time. A try with only a couple of seconds on the clock, denying the oppo time to score. Batt nearly does score after a Hail Mary throw the length of the court, but loses control and tips his chair as he tries to reel it in.

10.31am BST

Wheelchair basketball: The USA women have swept aside Spain 68-34 in their pool match.

10.28am BST

Wheelchair fencing: A bronze for Great Britain after a 15-11 win by Dimitri Coutya. Unfortunately there is no television coverage of the fencing, so we don’t get to bring you any description. A close match though right up until Coutya hit double figures and pulled away. Andrei Pranevich was his opponent, from Belarus.

10.26am BST

Swimming: Yet another world record in the pool, this time in the women’s 400m S11 final. Anastasia Pagonis advances her own world record by a second and a half to finish in 4:54:49.

10.14am BST

Wheelchair basketball: USA women racing away with this, 53-31 over Spain after three quarters.

10.11am BST

Wheelchair rugby: Australia up 25-24 at half time, and some smart tactics seem them delay that 25th try in order to leave only five seconds on the clock for France to try scoring afterwards. France can’t level up before the break.

10.07am BST

Goalball: Ukraine leading Germany 5-3 in the men’s match, into the second half.

10.05am BST

Wheelchair rugby: After a strong wrestle back and forth, with both teams scoring whenever in possession, Australia finally force a turnover with a couple of minutes to go before half time. They score on the rebound to take the lead 21-20.

Ryley Batt has 11 tries already for Australia. Shae Graham, one of the few women so far to get court time in this mixed sport, has also scored her first try at the Games.

9.50am BST

Wheelchair rugby: Quarter time there, Australia trailing France 12-13.

9.48am BST

Wheelchair basketball: Half time between the USA and Spain in the women’s pool match. Los Americanos lead 32-20.

9.47am BST

Equestrian: Lee Pearson of GB has qualified in top spot from the Grade II dressage event, joining his teammate Georgia Wilson in the freestyle final. Australia’s Victoria Davies misses out by one spot, finishing ninth.

9.45am BST

Powerlifting: Gold for Nigeria, as expected, thanks to Latifat Tijani. Her attempt at 117kg fails, but no one else tries to go past her top lift of 107. Cui Zhe silver, Kozdryk bronze.

9.44am BST

Swimming: Another Great Britain gold, they’re coming in fast today. Summers-Newton looked just behind world record time but makes up group late in the freestyle leg of the 400m individual medley SM6 category. Her new mark is 2:56:68.

Yelyzaveta Mereshko held that world record, and won gold last night in the S6 50 metre free, but has to settle for silver for Ukraine this time. Germany’s Verena Schott is bronze.

9.35am BST

Swimming: Home gold for Suzuki Takayuki in the men’s 100m S4 final. Another silver for Italy via Luigi Beggiato, bronze for Russia’s Roman Zhdanov who won gold in the breaststroke last night.

Then in the SM6 individual medley 200m final, Nelson Crispin Corzo wins Colombia’s first gold in a world record time. Huge swim. Andrei Granichka gets silver for Russia, Jia Hongguang extends China’s overall lead with bronze.

9.24am BST

Powerlifting: Tactics ahoy. Justyna Kozdryk of Poland lifts 101kg on her third attempt to go past Cui Zhe. Who then returns the favour by lifting 102, happy to make an effort to lock in silver rather than risk a bigger lift to get into the gold position. Tijani sits there with 107 on her third lift.

Everyone has one more to come, though. Tijani has listed 117 as her target. Wonder if she’ll stay with that, or go more conservative.

9.19am BST

Swimming: What a barnstormer for the British swimmer. She was a surprise silver medallist in the women’s S5 200m last night, a race that she was expected to win, but she leaves no doubt about the result in the 100 metres. She already holds the world record in this event, but demolishes it by two full seconds to win in 1:14:39. She hangs on to the side of the pool with a beaming smile that looks like part joy, part relief.

Zhang Li, who out-touched Kearney last night, trails her in for silver in this race, while Monica Boggioni gets bronze. Zhang takes China past Australia on 13 medals so far at these Games. Boggioni has Italy’s seventh medal, all in the pool.

9.12am BST

Swimming: A golden double for Francesco Bocciardo. The Italian won the men’s 200m S5 freestyle final yesterday, and backs it up with 100m gold today.

Wang Lichao gets silver for China, Daniel de Faria Dias bronze for Brazil.

9.07am BST

Powerlifting: Interesting. Cui Zhe was leading the women’s -45kg final with a lift of 95kg, butLatifat Tijani has blown that out of the water with 105kg, and her next attempt set at 110. Cui Zhe has gone on to lift 100kg and will also attempt the 110 lift. So it’s China battling Nigeria for gold.

8.52am BST

Equestrian: Georgia Wilson and Sakura are Great Britain’s first guaranteed qualifiers from the Individual Test to the Individual Freestyle Test. She’s currently second with six riders yet to come. The top eight go through.

8.33am BST

Wheelchair basketball: Australia’s men have just wrapped up a big win over Iran, ending at 81-39. And that’s with the Iranians getting a bit of a run on in the last few minutes to score a few baskets. Australia joins USA and Great Britain as the teams in Group B with a win to their names. Six teams per group, the top four go through to quarters.

8.23am BST

Cycling: Jaco steps on the... van Gass. Great Britain can’t lose in this final, as the 35-year-old takes the medal up against his compatriot Graham Finlay. Jaco van Gass already set a world record in qualifying, but he cruises to gold about three seconds slower, and still two seconds ahead of Finlay.

8.15am BST

All events on Tokyo time.

8.09am BST

Hey gang. Best regards also to Kool. David Nicholas is going around the velodrome right now looking for a bronze medal for Australia in the men’s C3 individual pursuit. Busy night ahead. What have we got on, I hear you ask?

8.00am BST

I’m handing you over to the one and only Geoff Lemon now. He tells me he’s feeling the vibes and is ready to impart them onto you all.

7.56am BST

Alexandre Léauté has done it in the men’s C2 3000m individual pursuit and done it with little fuss. In a world record, mind you. He led Hicks by more than three seconds with 100m to go and finished in 3:31.478. Hicks claims silver in 3:35.064, and it’s a silver he wouldn’t have been expecting earlier today when he qualified for the bronze medal race instead of the big one. This young Frenchman is one to watch for the future. And one to watch now, to be fair.

7.52am BST

They’re off, and this is a battle of experience v youth – Hicks is 36 and Léauté 20.

7.50am BST

Track cycling: China’s Liang Guihua has just won the bronze medal from Japan’s Shota Kawamoto and Australian Darren Hicks, promoted thanks to a disqualification, is about to contest the gold medal race against French star Alexandre Léauté.

7.42am BST

Wheelchair basketball: The Australian women’s team face a fight to reach the quarter-finals after a 77-58 loss to Germany. A day after losing their opening clash to Japan by 26 points, the Gliders have a 0-2 record in Group A and with just two games remaining.

They will need to win at least one of those remaining matches – against Great Britain on Saturday night and Canada on Sunday – to have any chance of progressing to the last eight. Eight of the 10 teams across Group A and B qualify for the quarter-finals.

7.37am BST

Wheelchair rugby: Japan have done it against Denmark, emerging on the right end of a 60-51 scoreline.

7.36am BST

That was exciting. Russian Mikhail Astashov overlapped Canadian Tristen Chernove while China’s Li Zhangyu (3:39.273) walks away with bronze after seeing off Saniard Ricardo Ten Argilés (3:43.351) in the bronze medal race.

7.18am BST

Spaniard Alfonso Cabello Llamas has absolutely blitzed the men’s C4-5 1000m time trial field in the final ride to win in a world-record time of 1:01.557. And it is an upset of Jody Cundy, who was out to defend his Rio 2016 title. Still, the British great claims silver to add yet another medal to his bulging cabinet in a Paralympic-record time of 1:01.847. Slovakia’s Jozef Metelka claims bronze in 1:04.786. Wowee.

7.03am BST

Track cycling: The time trial is almost complete, and Great Britain’s world record holder Jody Cundy and American Chris Murphy are up very soon. Slovak Jozef Metelka has usurped Wu at the top.

7.00am BST

Wheelchair rugby: Japan’s men are leading Denmark 34-30 in the third period. The host nation are known for their strong form in this sport, and Denmark are the team which beat Australia on Wednesday to consign the Steelers to their first Paralympics defeat in 13 years.

Here’s what Australia’s captain Ryley Batt had to say about the upset:

6.51am BST

Here’s an update from my colleague Paul MacInnes in Tokyo on the Covid cluster in the athletes’ village.

An outbreak of Covid-19 at the Tokyo Paralympics has grown in severity after a foreign participant infected with the virus was admitted to hospital.

6.49am BST

Track cycling: The time trial is a little over halfway done and China’s Wu Guoqing (1:05.548) is sitting in the gold medal position, France’s Kévin Le Cunff (1:06.357) in second and Malaysia’s Zuhairie Ahmad Tarmizi (1:06.472) has just slipped into third. Tarmizi was an up-and-coming able-bodied football player, but had his arm amputated at the wrist after his palm got stuck in the sugarcane machine while helping at his family’s stall as a kid.

6.35am BST

Goalball: That men’s preliminary game turned into a goal-fest, with the USA seeing off Brazil 8-6 to lay down some early medal credentials.

6.33am BST

We have a winner at the powerlifting and not one but two new world records. The Chinese lifter Guo Lingling completed a weight of 109kg in an extra powerlift round to seal gold in a dominant performance. Guo beat her second-placed rival, Ni Nengha Widiashi, by a clear 11kg, with Clara Sarahy Fuentes Monasterio finishing with a bronze medal after lifting 97kg. It was disappointment and fourth place for Britain’s Zoe Newsom who was twice unable to complete the press sequence at 97kg.

6.24am BST

To recap on the news in just before, Australian Darren Hicks has been promoted to second-fastest qualifier for the final of the men’s C2 3000m individual pursuit. That is by virtue of Ewoud Vromant’s disqualification after the Belgian breached a rule around the use of his saddle. Vromant qualified fastest a few hours ago and set a world record, which has now been wiped out. French star Alexandre Leaute also set a world record (3:31.817) even in qualifying second-fastest, which means Leaute now holds the WR. The Frenchman is the man for Hicks to beat in the final.

6.14am BST

Track cycling: We’re going to stay at the velodrome for a bit because there are a heap of medals up for grabs. Colombia’s Diego German Dueñas has just had some awful luck, unable to start men’s C4-5 1000m time trial because the bolt wasn’t screwed onto his back wheel tight enough. A mechanic has the Phillips out and Dueñas has been allowed a restart. He gets away with no problems this time and clocks 1:10.702, which is enough for an early lead as the third of a 21-rider field.

6.03am BST

Track cycling: Some big news in that Edwoud Vromant has been disqualified after his world-record time, which means Australian Darren Hicks is into the gold medal race in the men’s C2 3,000m individual pursuit.

5.53am BST

We’ve just finished the second round of lifting here at the Tokyo International Forum and there has been no shortage of tension. China’s Guo Lingling has already set a new Paralympic record of 105kg and just had a world record lift of 108kg denied by a perceived failure in the chest sequence of her lift.

Britain’s Zoe Newsom is clinging on for hopes of a bronze medal after she failed to complete the press on her second round lift of 97kg. She got a reprieve after her rival, Indonesia’s Ni Nenga Widiashi was adjudged to have a failing of technique on her 98kg lift. Newsom has opted to go again at 97 and Widiashi at 98 so a medal bid is out of her hands, but not yet over.

5.49am BST

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.

5.43am BST

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.

5.32am BST

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.

5.27am BST

Thanks Luke and hello! Depending where you are in the world good afternoon, good morning, good some ungodly hour at night.

There are more track cycling finals coming up this afternoon. Australia have strong medal hopes in Nicholas David and Darren Hicks while Team GB is guaranteed a gold in the men’s C3 3,000m individual pursuit with Jaco van Gass and Finlay Graham facing each other in the final.

5.10am BST

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

5.07am BST

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.”

5.01am BST

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

4.56am BST

The countdown to the women’s -41kg category has begun (to a soundtrack of solid 80s hits, and a DJ who effectively mixed Huey Lewis’s Power of Love into Whitney’s I Wanna Dance With Somebody, respect). I’m here to follow the prospects of double bronze winning Brit Zoe Newsom, in what is likely to be her last games. It’s a bench press event and athletes are regularly lifting more than twice their own bodyweight. Leading contender for gold is world-record-holder China’s Lingling Guo, whose starting lift is at 103kg (she weighs 40.13kg). Newsom starts at 92kg.

4.50am BST

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.

4.45am BST

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

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

4.39am BST

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.

✅ A world-beating swimmer
✅ A social media star
✅ And the coolest goggles in the pool @USParaSwimming #Tokyo2020 #Paralympics pic.twitter.com/10EoLQ6xJk

4.23am BST

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.”

4.19am BST

Powerlifting: Omar Sami Hamadeh Qarada, of Jordan, wins gold with a top lift of 173kg. He beats the winner at Rio 2016, Vietnam’s Le van Cong, to the gold, while Azerbaijan’s Parvin Ammadov takes bronze.

The first #ParaPowerlifting medallists of #Tokyo2020, ladies and gentlemen!

Men's up to 49 kg#Gold Omar Qarada #JOR - 173kg #Silver Le van Cong #VIE - 173kg#Bronze Parvin Mammadov #AZE - 156kg#ParaPowerlifting #Paralympics #Tokyo2020 @paralympics pic.twitter.com/cwOZMbPILn

4.16am BST

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.

4.11am BST

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.

4.04am BST

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.

3.54am BST

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.

3.50am BST

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.

3.38am BST

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.

3.15am BST

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.

3.10am BST

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.”

3.02am BST

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.

2.56am BST

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.

2.46am BST

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.

2.40am BST

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.

2.37am BST

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.

2.26am BST

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!

2.21am BST

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.

2.06am BST

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.

1.53am BST

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.

1.47am BST

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.

1.35am BST

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).

1.26am BST

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.

1.22am BST

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.

1.17am BST

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.

1.11am BST

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.”

1.06am BST

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).

1.00am BST

Hello and welcome to our coverage of day two of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. We’re delighted to have you joining us again today.

I don’t know about you, but post-Olympics it’s felt like there’s been a bit of a void in my life, so thank goodness there is so much more elite sport for us to enjoy in these next two weeks.

View more on Geoff Lemon's website »

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Published on August 26, 2021 05:42

Tokyo 2020 Paralympics day one: swimming, cycling, wheelchair rugby and more – as it happened

It was an exciting opening to the Games with some surprises along the way

2.53pm BST

Thanks for reading everyone. Lots to enjoy on day one and we’ll be back again tomorrow.

2.48pm BST

Wheelchair basketball: And that’s it. In the final action of day one, Spain score a 63-53 victory over Korea thanks to a dominant final quarter (22-13).

2.46pm BST

If you want day-by-listings of every event at the Paralympics, click away on this.

2.31pm BST

Great picture here from today’s Goalball action. The team sport is designed for athletes with a vision impairment. The ball has bells embedded in it and can be hurled at speeds up to 60mph. The players all wear blackout masks.

2.20pm BST

Still in progress: We’re nearly done for the day in Tokyo but there is still a Wheelchair Basketball match taking place. Spain currently lead Korea 63-52 in the fourth quarter.

2.19pm BST

From the ParalympicsGB twitter account. Current Followers: 234.9K.

What a first day in Tokyo

#ImpossibleToIgnore pic.twitter.com/WhUx1gTYRy

2.07pm BST

Medal count: It’s early days for the ParalympicsGB team but they will certainly have the two previous Games in mind.

Last time in Rio, Great Britain secured 147 medals (64 gold, 39 silver and 44 bronze).

1.55pm BST

Wheelchair Rugby: Some thrilling games today. If you missed it earlier, Denmark pipped Australia 54-53 before Great Britain edged Canada 50-47. In today’s final match, the drama continued with Japan seeing off France 53-51.

1.46pm BST

Goalball: In the final game of the day, United States beat Brazil 6-4.

1.43pm BST

Here’s Greg Wood’s report on how ParalympicsGB fared in the pool on day one.

1.33pm BST

A few extra quotes from Tully Kearney after her silver medal.

There was a question mark over whether I’d ever get to a Paralympic Games and the fact that I’ve been able to race and come away with a medal is crazy.

I thought after Rio, the Paralympics wouldn’t be possible, I wouldn’t be able to swim any more, so this is obviously a massive deal and it’s all down to the amazing support staff, the amazing team – I just swam.

1.22pm BST

This is a great listen from the Guardian’s ‘Today in Focus’ series. I challenge anyone to hear Sophie Carrigill’s story and not be absolutely drawn in and inspired by her infectious positivity. Wheelchair basketball is always one of the Paralympics’ great watches.

1.12pm BST

Some great snaps here in our day one picture gallery from Tokyo.

1.01pm BST

Jonnie Peacock, one of ParalympicsGB’s star names, says he’s peaking at the right time ahead of his bid to win a third T64 100m title after taking gold in London 2012 and Rio 2016.

Peacock had a hamstring injury earlier in the season but believes he’s in great shape again.

12.51pm BST

If you missed it earlier, here’s Paul McInnes reporting from the Izu Velodrome on how Sarah Storey won her 15th (15th!!) Paralympic gold and broke her own world record in the process. Oh, and she’s not stopping there.

12.44pm BST

Tully Kearney sounds a little reflective after being interviewed following her silver medal swim in the 200m freestyle S5 event. It was so close to a gold but she signs off by saying “got to be pleased with that” so onwards to the next race. Here’s her back story.

Completing a lifelong dream ✨

Learn more about @TullyKearney who competes in the S5 200m freestyle final, coming soon on @Channel4...#Tokyo2020 #C4Paralympics pic.twitter.com/zhjbHK5YIA

12.38pm BST

Thanks my friend. A great start for the Australians. Geoff’s a happy man although I’d like to get his view on Ian Botham becoming UK trade ambassador to Australia. Here’s Marina Hyde’s take.

12.35pm BST

That’s it for me. So what did we see today?

12.28pm BST

Teo Teng Kiat emails in. “That’s Pin Xiu’s fourth Paralympic gold. Tears of joy as she sang our anthem too. Absolute legend for Singapore sport!”

12.27pm BST

If you’re Australian, peep that medal tally. Six gold, ten total, top of the pops on either measure on the first day of competition.

12.26pm BST

Swimming: Ben Popham wins the men’s 100m freestyle S8 category. He has a bad start, he has a bad turn, but he has more ability to crank up the horsepower in the straight. He’s third or fourth coming out of the turn, then he puts the Yamaha down out the back of the Speedos and races to the touch! He’s weeping in the pool. A good place to do it, easy to clean up.

12.22pm BST

Swimming: One more race in the pool tonight.

12.21pm BST

Swimming: Well! Tully Kearney, as locked on a gold medal chance as you could find, gets caught in the last few metres. She qualified fastest, a second and a half quicker than second place, seven seconds quicker than the rest. But Zhang Li ploughs through the last 50 as Kearney starts to tire, and beats her to the wall with a half stroke on her final approach. Remarkable finish. Gold to China, silver to Great Britain, bronze to Italy’s Monica Boggioni.

This is the 200m freestyle S5 event, the classification that includes swimmers who have the majority use of their arms and hands, but limited or no use of their legs. Kearney has to rely on her arm speed, and you could see her strokes starting to fade through the final lap.

12.05pm BST

Table tennis: Australia’s Jake Ballestrino has lost his first group match in Class 7 to Egypt’s Sayed Mohammed Youssef. GB’s Megan Shackleston has just started her match against China’s Zhou Ying.

11.56am BST

Four golds today, and it’s a Chinese sweep. In women’s sabre Category B, Tan Shumei. In Category A, Bian Jing. In men’s sabre Category B, Feng Yanke. And in Category A, Li Hao. Should be quite the party in their quarters tonight.

11.52am BST

Rowan Crothers is now receiving his gold medal for the 50 freestyle. Go you good thing. Singing lustily, looking very emotional. I think we saw some tears in the eyes.

11.51am BST

Swimming: In the 100m butterfly S13 finals, both the men’s and women’s gold medallists set new Paralympic records without getting the world mark. Ihar Boki, the Belarussian champion, takes the men’s medal ahead of Ukrainian Oleksii Virchenko and Islam Aslanov from Uzbekistan.

In the women’s race, Italy goes gold-silver with Carlotta Gilli and Alessia Berra, with Russia’s Daria Pikalova in third.

11.46am BST

Goalball: And that’s what happens! A penalty is called against Australia. Horsburgh has to defend it on her own. She can’t keep it out, and at a scoreline of 11-1, we have what is called a ‘mercy’: where the game gets called complete. With about six minutes left on the clock.

That was quite the thrashing for Australia. Didn’t score from open play. Scored once from a penalty. A lot of flat shots that were easily stopped. Two or three decent shots that almost sneaked through the defence, and one off the crossbar. But it was popgun compared to Israel’s shooting, which constantly got good bounce and backspin to get over or past defenders even when they did make contact with the ball.

11.42am BST

Goalball: Israel up 10-1 over Australia in the women’s match, one goal away from it being called off early.

11.31am BST

Table tennis: Australian paddle-wielder Samuel Philip Einem won a set against Asano Takashi but loses his first group match 3-1.

11.29am BST

Goalball: At half time, 7-1 in the Israel-Australia women’s match.

11.28am BST

Swimming: Gold for Anastasiia Gontar (Russia) in the women’s S9 50 metre freestyle, ahead of Chantelle Zijderveld (Netherlands) and Aurelie Rivard (Canada). Zara Mulloolly finishes seventh for Great Britain.

11.24am BST

Goalball: Just as we post that, Australia scores! A penalty for an incorrect throw, meaning only one defender is allowed to face the attacker on the subsequent shot. Meica Jayne Horsburgh rolls it in.

11.21am BST

Goalball: The Australian women’s team in strife against Israel, 8-0 down before half time. If the margin gets to 10 then the game gets called off immediately.

11.16am BST

Swimming: Rowan Crothers charges home in the men’s 50m S10 category. Five hundredths of a second outside the world record. Maksym Krypak and Phelipe Melo Rodrigues are on his shoulder the whole way, in the lanes either side, but the Ukrainian settles for silver and the Brazilian for bronze.

11.08am BST

Goalball: If you’re not familiar with it, this is the three-player team sport for blind athletes. All players wear eye shades so that they’re equally unsighted. They try to protect a goal that stretches the length of the court by listening for bells embedded in the match ball. Then they serve to try to score.

Israel get off to a flyer, 3-0 up early after two mistakes in defence and one penalty shot given away by the Australian women.

11.02am BST

Swimming: Down to the 50 metres free, first in the S6 category. In the women’s sprint final, it’s a three-way battle all the way to the wall. The Ukrainians take gold and bronze, Yelyzaveta Mereshko and Anna Hontar. USA’s Elizabeth Marks is the silver filling in the sandwich, just 0.04 from a win in what is not typically her event.

In the men’s SB3, the Russian Roman Zdhanov breaks the world record with 46.49 seconds. Spaniard Miguel Luque silver, Japan’s Suzuki Takayuki bronze.

10.53am BST

Table tennis: Yang Qian wins a five-setter for Australia, coming back from 2-1 down after winning the first. Her first group match.

10.51am BST

Wheelchair basketball: Great Britain win 50-47, strategically pausing before scoring late to deny Canada enough time to score again going the other way.

10.44am BST

Wheelchair basketball: Canada close within two tries after a sneaky steal, but they’re running out of time to close that final gap.

10.40am BST

Wheelchair basketball: Great Britain up 41-38 against Canada with five minutes left. Both teams scoring freely.

10.38am BST

“Did you know that Trischa Zorn, the most decorated Paralympian in history, won nearly twice as many medals as Michael Phelps (the most decorated Olympian in history)?” emails in Kurt Perleberg. “Trischa Zorn won 57 medals from Arnhem 1980 to Athens 2004, and Michael Phelps won 28 medals from Athens 2004 to Rio 2016.”

Zorn was also a swimmer, in just about every event, and was blind from birth. I’ll add that 41 of Zorn’s medals were gold.

10.32am BST

Wheelchair basketball: Japan have absolutely demolished Australia in this women’s pool match, 47 to 73.

10.30am BST

Ruby Storm is a great name, by the way. Sounds like a powerful cartoon horse with a rainbow mane. Or a crystal in a new-age shop. Or a Command and Conquer sequel.

10.26am BST

Wheelchair rugby! We’ve got the close one. Great Britain 32, Canada 29, as the big blokes smash into each other in collision chairs. What a sport. Third quarter, three minutes to go.

10.21am BST

Swimming: Her own record goes, as she wins the women’s 100m S14 butterfly by a distance! The two Australians take silver and bronze, Paige Leonhardt and then Ruby Storm, who closed out the race really well. She’s in tears of happiness, is Storm. To give you a sense of the dominance, Leonhardt in second place was a good two seconds behind Shabalina, in a two-lap race.

The men’s 100m S14 gold goes to Brazil’s Gabriel Bandeira in a boilover, ahead of the favourite and world record holder Reece Dunn of Great Britain. Benjamin Hance takes the bronze for Australia.

10.09am BST

Table tennis: Australia’s Melissa Tapper has beaten Lin Tzu Yu in their Class 10 group match. Another Australian, Yang Qian, is up one set to nil against China’s Zhao Xiaojing.

Susan Bailey of GB has lost to Borislava Peric Rankovic of Serbia.

10.07am BST

Wheelchair basketball: Third quarter, Japan leading Australia 46-37 in the women’s match.

10.03am BST

Now it’s Lakeisha Patterson’s turn. Singing the Australian anthem behind her mask as she stands on the dais, before waving her bunch of flowers to the crowd. Once she’s allowed to take off her mask briefly for photos, she’s beaming.

9.58am BST

Swimming: In the women’s 100m backstroke S2 final, Yip Pin Xiu takes gold for Singapore. Yamada Miyuki picks up silver for Japan, Fabiola Ramirez bronze for Mexico, after trailing as far back as fifth earlier in the race.

Here’s the medal ceremony for the men’s 400m, and Will Martin has his moment on the podium as the Australian anthem plays.

9.44am BST

Swimming: The men’s 100m backstroke finals are swum, in the S1 and S2 categories. Iyad Shalabi takes out the S1 gold for Israel, with Anton Kol silver for Ukraine and Francesco Bettella bronze for Italy.

In the S2, gold goes to Alberto Abarza of Chile, ahead of Brazil’s Gabriel dos Santos Araujo and Russia’s Vladimir Danilenko.

9.41am BST

Wheelchair basketball: Half time between Japan and Australia’s women, the hosts leading 34 to 28.

9.33am BST

Until someone tells me otherwise, I’m going to assume from voice alone that the commentator on the world swimming feed is Kristen Schall. It makes me happy.

9.23am BST

Swimming: Lakeisha Patterson holds on! By eight hundredths of a second, in the women’s 400m S9! She goes out hard early, over a body length ahead by the 200 metre mark. Perhaps thinking that she doesn’t have the closing speed of Hungary’s Zsofia Konkoly and and GB’s Toni Shaw. They do start making ground in the last 100, and are looking to strike in the last 50, but Patterson gives it everything she’s got. It looks to me like Konkoly is about to catch her in the last 30, and perhaps even shades ahead, but Patterson finds something extra to hold ground. They stroke for the wall at the same time, and Patterson touches first.

Shaw gets bronze, Australia’s Ellie Cole is fourth.

9.12am BST

Swimming: But not for the world record holder and gold medallist from the last two games, Brenden Hall. He slips to fourth and can’t find any way to rally in the last 100 metres. The winner instead is Will Martin! He is ahead of world record time into the last 30 metres before falling just behind it late. But he went out strongly and led the whole way. A powerful swim.

4:10:25, it’s a Paralympic Games record in the 400m S9.

9.05am BST

Swimming: The men’s 400m S9 final is underway! Three Australians in the field. Or more accurately, in the pool.

9.02am BST

Swimming: The bell tolls 5pm in Tokyo, and this is now pretty much a swimming blog for the next three hours. I’ll try to keep half an eye on other things, but there are a lot of medals up for grabs on night one in the pool. Or is this night two? I don’t know who decides these things.

8.58am BST

Wheelchair fencing: The placements for the gold medal matches have been decided.

Men’s sabre, category A:
Artem Manko (Ukraine)
Li Hao (China)

8.50am BST

Table tennis: Australia’s Joel Coughlan is up in the men’s Class 10 group matches, having just lost the first set to Montenegro’s Filip Radovic.

8.48am BST

If you haven’t caught it yet, here is Paul’s take on the opening ceremony.

8.21am BST

Wheelchair basketball: Canada blew away Great Britain late in the fourth quarter. It ends 54-73 in the Group A match. GB will play Australia, Germany, and Japan next. Although four of the five teams in each pool make the quarters, so there’s no great pressure yet.

8.18am BST

Thanks Emma. Can’t keep me away. What is on tonight, I hear you ask? Bloody well stacks, is my regionally specific answer.

8.02am BST

While we are on the topic of wheelchair basketball, Kieran Pender has written a piece on one of Australia’s men’s players, Jannik Blair, about his backstory and his new customised carbon fibre wheelchair seat.

7.55am BST

Wheelchair basketball: It’s three-quarter-time and Canada’s lead has blown out to 45-39. They won that quarter 19-10, and the Brits have work to do to make up the difference.

7.52am BST

Here is the medal table as it stands, for those who enjoy a bit of AUS/GBR rivalry:

7.41am BST

Wheelchair basketball: Team GB’s women are ahead 29-26 leading into the third term of their opening Group A match against Canada. It has been a pretty evenly matched encounter but Kathleen Dandeneau has been the star with a 15-point haul for Canada.

7.33am BST

Wheelchair rugby: Well well well, Paralympics newbies Denmark have beaten Australia. It was tied at 53-53 with 15 seconds on the clock and Sebastian Frederiksen used the time efficiently to score and inch ahead 54-53. Ryley Batt wheeled away up the other end of the court with his eyes on the target but concedes a turnover after the ball is ruled out of bounds. What can the Danes do in 2.7 seconds? What can anybody do in 2.7 seconds? In truth they don’t need to do anything but hold onto the ball until the whistle goes. Major upset.

7.24am BST

Some more detail on Storey’s insane achievement:

7.19am BST

Wheelchair rugby: Denmark’s men have the upper hand over Australia, leading 47-46 with just under four minutes to place.

7.12am BST

Track cycling: Sensational ride from Tristan Bangma, the Dutch rising star who has just dethroned British defending champion Stephen Bate in the tandem race for visually impaired athletes. Bangma started comfortably in front and overlapped just after the 3,000m mark. Pole Marcin Polak claimed bronze by 0.276 seconds from Frenchman Alexandre Lloveras.

7.00am BST

Here is a report on Australia’s golden start:

6.52am BST

Track cycling: Sarah Storey has cleaned up in a Team GB one-two, overlapping compatriot Crystal Lane-Wright. It is Storey’s 15th Paralympic gold across two different sports and eight Games. If that’s not enough to intimidate Lane-Wright nothing is. France’s Marie Patouillet won her bronze medal race against Kiwi Nicole Murray.

6.44am BST

Wheelchair rugby: At half-time Australia have pulled ahead 25-23. Captain Ryley Batt, playing at his fifth Paralympics, scored the last two tries to take his haul to 13. That tops the output of Denmark’s Sebastian Frederiksen on 11. The disability class of both players is 3.5.

For the uninitiated, players are given an official classification depending on their level of functional ability, rated from 0.5 to 3.5 with 0.5 being the most severe. Generally, the higher-rated players have more speed and mobility and so fill attacking roles. Four players are on the court for each time and the total points of those four players cannot exceed 8.5.

6.34am BST

Wheelchair rugby: The Danes have thrown down the gauntlet to Australia, matching them goal for goal partly thanks to some brutally on-point defence. As the clock ticks down to the end of the second quarter the score stands at 21-21.

6.28am BST

Medal ceremonies are under way at the velodrome, which is pretty spesh. Even without a crowd it feels as if there is a vibe watching on TV. I’m sure it’s all real noise.

And amusingly, Channel Seven has just shown the medal table. On day one. After two events. Unsurprisingly, Australia have two gold medals and sit top. Stop the count.

6.18am BST

Greco has spoken to Seven and she’s pretty emotional.

“Sorry,” she saays through tears. “I’m just so happy. Can’t believe we did it. It was a good race. Yeah. I still can’t believe it. I can’t thank the team at AusCycling [enough], my coach, their support is amazing. My family and friends, wouldn’t be here without them.”

6.12am BST

The Australian’s lead blew out to seven seconds at the 2,000m mark and she rolled her soon thereafter.

6.09am BST

Emily Petricola is going for Australia’s second gold in as many attempts in her gold medal race against the US’s Shawn Morelli. As it stands at the 1,000m mark is she a second and a half in the lead.

6.06am BST

Meg Lemon has just missed out on bronze in the women’s C4 3000m individual pursuit to Canadian Keely Shaw, who comfortably accounted for her Australian counterpart.

6.04am BST

Someone was watching:

GOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!
Paige Greco dominates for Australia for our first Gold Medal in the #Tokyo2020 #Paralympics
World Record to boot!!!!

6.01am BST

It’s gold gold gold for Australia! That world record is the seventh (seventh!) on the track today and the second set by Greco. Probably the most remarkable element of Greco’s performance in that race is that her first 250m or so were near-identical to her last race.

5.58am BST

The Australian has finished in an astonishing 3:50.815.

5.56am BST

Greco, who posted a new world record earlier in qualifying, was quicker at the 1,000m mark than then. In other words, this is QUICK. Wang slightly off the pace.

5.54am BST

Paige Greco takes some deep breaths as she and Wang Xiaomei start clean out of the gate.

5.53am BST

Schindler has done it, and she’s clearly pumped about it. Brown was dangling the carrot towards the end there and she has bettered her heat time with a 3:55.120 here. Brown finishes in 4:01.523. Gold medal race coming up.

5.51am BST

Germany’s Denise Schindler is ahead in the women’s C1 3000m Individual Pursuit bronze medal match-up against American Clara Brown.

5.41am BST

I’ve dallied in changing the byline on this blog and thus been moonlighting as one Geoff Lemon for the past half an hour. I am now officially Emma, and my details can be found above for any questions, concerns or gems of wisdom. Track cycling about to get under way so I’m going to hang out at the Izu Velodrome for a bit.

5.34am BST

Here’s that story on the possible Covid cluster in the athletes’ village:

5.32am BST

If the Kiwi readers out there need some more rugby to take your minds of the, erm, rugby, Australia are due to play Denmark in half an hour. Wheelchair rugby – for me at least – is one of the highlights of the Paralympics. It might be because it was unofficially called “murderball” back in the day, soon after the game was invented in Canada in the ‘70s. Not a bad nickname considering the mix of basketball, football and ice hockey and the copious collisions.

5.23am BST

Some handy background reading on Australia’s early gold medal hopes who are due to compete in not too long:

Australia has the chance to snare the first two gold medals of the Tokyo Paralympics after Paige Greco and Emily Petricola posted new cycling world records to qualify for their respective finals.

5.17am BST

Thanks Geoff. I will indeed travel with you. To the track, for sure. But first, to other destinations yonder in the Paralympics field of dreams. But before that, and because Tokyo 2020 isn’t really Tokyo 2020 without a Covid scare, this from the Guardian’s man on the ground Paul MacInnes:

Two more athletes have tested positive for Covid 19 in the Paralympic village, with officials awaiting information to confirm if a cluster of infection has broken out.

The news comes as ParalympicsGB confirmed a member of their coaching staff, part of the wheelchair tennis team, has been confirmed as having the virus and is now in isolation.

Daily results published by the Tokyo Paralympics organising committee found that 16 positive cases had been recorded amongst the extensive testing programme. Five of those individuals were in the Village, where athletes, coaching and support staff are supposed to be within a Covid secure bubble.

The rest of the positive results were found amongst contractors and games personnel, while one member of the media tested positive.

Tokyo 2020 spokesperson Masa Takaya said the results would now be referred to specialists.

“It seems that those with the positive cases come from different sports and different countries”, he told Inside the Games. “Whether or not there is a cluster should come from the advice from the specialists. We will continue to listen to the advice and try to provide accurate information to the media.”

ParalympicsGB said that a staff member had tested positive for the virus before arriving at the village after testing negative upon arrival in Japan and at a training camp.

The GB chef de mission, Penny Briscoe, said “we fully respect and continue to adhere” to the Tokyo 2020 Covid protocols. British officials are now tracing the individual’s recent contacts.

ParalympicsGB also confirmed that a member of the table tennis team, David Wetherill, has been deselected for breaching his team’s code of conduct. The organising body said they would be providing no further information while an arbitration process was conducted.

5.08am BST

That’s enough from me. Cycling medals start in about 40 minutes, and there’s plenty more coming as well. Emma Kemp will travel with you for the next wee while. Away with you.

5.06am BST

Wheelchair rugby: USA won 63-35 over New Zealand. One day of national weeping has been scheduled in the Shaky Isles.

5.05am BST

Cycling: Yet another world record at the track: Netherlands’ Ned Bangma in the men’s B 4000m individual pursuit, in 3:59:47. Another record busted by over four seconds, and he’s the first man under four minutes in this race. He’ll race for gold against GB’s Stephen Bate.

Marcin Polak and Alexandre Lloveras, of Poland and France, race for bronze.

4.53am BST

Table tennis: Great Britain’s Ross Wilson also had a win first up, while Australia’s Lisa Daniela di Toro did not. Wilson beat Clement Berthier, who if you hadn’t guessed is French. The picador for di Toro was Sandra Mikolascheck of Germany.

4.50am BST

Table tennis: Aaron McKibbin won the Ashes of Table Tennis 3-0, in tribute to the scoreline achieved most recently by Alastair Cook’s men in 2013.

4.48am BST

Wheelchair fencing: On Brit-watch, Gemma Collis McCann is out of the women’s sabre after losing her four pool matches.

4.44am BST

Cycling: In the men’s individual pursuit 4000m B, for vision-impaired riders, Great Britain’s Neil Fachie is already out of the medal reckoning in fifth spot and James Ball failed to finish. Stephen Bate, the Paralympic record holder, is yet to ride.

4.40am BST

Wheelchair basketball: A volley of shots from Netherlands near the end: de Rooij, Beijer, Kramer, Visser, all sinking two-pointers before Visser lands a couple of uncontested free throws after an unsportsmanlike foul is called against the USA. The Americans score on the buzzer but the final margin is suddenly 68-58 to the Dutch. Way to close it out.

4.33am BST

Wheelchair basketball: The Dutch are going to win. They’re up by eight.

4.32am BST

Wheelchair basketball: A couple of missed threes from the USA and they keep turning the ball over to Netherlands who clear defensively. Kramer scores again for the Dutch and they’re up by six! Three minutes left, Kramer misses her subsequent free throw but clears up her own rebound. No score results, Ryan scores for USA to close it to 60-56.

4.28am BST

Wheelchair basketball: Netherlands up 58-54 after sinking a couple of twos.

4.26am BST

Wheelchair basketball: The Dutch won’t go away! 54-54 at a timeout in the fourth, six minutes left.

4.10am BST

Paul MacInnes on Sarah Storey: “Her tongue was hanging out on that last lap, so she was feeling it, but the pace was serious from start to finish. Looks like gold medal number one of the games for her could well be incoming...”

Add it to the pile. She’s got more gold than Smaug.

4.09am BST

Wheelchair rugby: USA leading 29-17 over New Zealand as half time arrives.

4.07am BST

The Great Dame does the job at the age of 43. She rides 327:807, beating her own world record by more than four seconds. Huge advances on the records today, both at the drome and in the pool. She’ll ride off against Crystal Lane-Wright for gold, which means...

Great Britain is guaranteed a gold medal. One way or the other. That should make some of you lot in the Isles happy.

4.02am BST

Table tennis: Nathan Pellissier and Aaron McKibbin are starting off, Australia v Great Britain, in what many are called the Ashes of Table Tennis.

3.58am BST

Cycling: Dame Sarah Story is up next at the velodrome.

3.56am BST

Wheelchair basketball: A close one in the women’s game, the USA leading 36-34 against Netherlands.

3.55am BST

Wheelchair rugby: USA leading New Zealand 16-10 in the men’s game, second period. It’s been intense.

3.54am BST

Ode to a Lemon
Pablo Neruda

Out of lemon flowers
loosed
on the moonlight, love’s
lashed and insatiable
essences,
sodden with fragrance,
the lemon tree’s yellow
emerges,the lemons
move down
from the tree’s planetarium

3.50am BST

Cycling: I was glad to see an Australian rider named Meg Lemon on the card. She’s qualified to ride for bronze in the C4 individual pursuit against Canada’s Keely Shaw, with Petricola tackling USA’s Shawn Morelli for gold.

But then the commentators kept pronouncing her as Meg Le Mon. I hope that’s just their error. Because, mate. If you want to say it like that, put a space in it.

3.46am BST

Paul MacInnes is the Guardian’s reporter at the velodrome.

“What we are seeing is some incredible cycling here in Izu. Emily Petricola just became the fifth female rider in four classifications to set a world record today. The 41-year-old, who has multiple sclerosis, took a whole six seconds off her own record that she set just last year. Five records in a morning is not normal: I asked Paige Greco and she confirmed it. The question all us Brits are asking is: will Sarah Storey be next?”

3.43am BST

“I misread your first missive and thought it said NZ v Aus in the wheelchair rugby. Huge grudge match!” writes Joe Barnes. “What is wheelchair rugby? I bet those athletes are as hard as nails, is it a bit brutal?”

It is. For endurance as well as collisions. It’s honesty more like NFL then rugby, in that players can pass forward and score in an endzone. It’s played on a basketball style court with a round ball. Players throw passes on the full or on the bounce to teammates, and can race around with the ball on their laps. Someone has to roll through the endzone or catch it in the endzone to score. Collisions are allowed, through players don’t grab each other’s bodies or chairs.

3.40am BST

Goalball: The Russians beat Canada 5-1 in the first game of the women’s comp.

3.38am BST

Wheelchair rugby: Look away, New Zealanders: the USA leads New Zealand 6-3. Trailing America in any form of rugby must be mortifying.

3.34am BST

That’s all of the swimming until the finals begin at 17:00 hours Tokyo time.

3.33am BST

Swimming: Ben Popham qualifies fastest for Australia in the men’s 100m S8 third heat, swimming 58.95. Only three other swimmers across the heats dip under one minute.

3.28am BST

Wheelchair basketball: The Dutch are hanging in there with the States near the end of the first quarter, 12-14.

3.25am BST

Swimming: Antoni Bertran Ponce qualifies first for Spain in the men’s 200m freestyle S5. Great Britain get a double in the women’s equivalent: Susanna Hext in one heat and Tully Kearney in the other.

3.20am BST

Wheelchair fencing: There is no television coverage of this event, for a reason that I don’t know. Literally zero. Not on any of the streams, and it’s listed on the Games site as being untelevised. Which means that I can’t tell you much, as there are a million bouts being held today. They’re all part of a pool round, where each fencer fights a range of opponents, so if you’re following someone in particular check here.

3.16am BST

Cycling: Another one down! Emily Petricola in the women’s C4 individual pursuit burns around in 3:38:061, breaking her own record by over six seconds. The Australian women are having a good time on the track.

3.14am BST

Wheelchair basketball: Algeria got towelled up by China in the opening women’s match, going down 25 to 74. Ouch. Netherlands USA up next.

3.10am BST

Cycling: So in the women’s C1-C3 individual pursuit, Paige Greco and Wang Xiaomei will race for gold later in the day. At 13:52 Tokyo time to be precise. Germany and the USA will race for bronze, via Denise Schindler and Clara Brown.

3.07am BST

Swimming: For Australia, Ahmed Kelly sneaks into the final for the men’s 50m SB3. Rowan Crowthers qualifies first for the men’s 50m S10, with Thomas Gallagher also through. Keira Stephens misses out in the women’s equivalent, as does Kirralee Hayes in the women’s 100m butterfly S13.

Elizabeth Marks of the USA qualifies fastest in the women’s 50m S6. Ihar Boki of Belarus leads the men’s 100m butterly S13.

2.57am BST

Cycling: As anticipated! She carves it down to 3:52:283 around the velodrome. Between she and Wang, they’ve taken nearly eight seconds off the previous world record today.

2.53am BST

Men’s 100m butterfly S14: And speaking of them changing hands quickly - Australia’s Liam Schluter sets a new Paralymic record in the first heat, swimming 58.38 in the fly. He then watches three swimmers beat it in the very next heat. Then five more swimmers go past it in the third! Jesus, are they swimming in water or rocket fuel? The sixth swimmer in the third heat ties Schluter’s time (I’m not sure who’s ahead if we go deep into the decimals.)

So poor old Liam breaks the record in heat one, then doesn’t make the final.

2.43am BST

Table tennis: Rebecca Julian has just completed her first match, representing Australia. One for cricket lovers: her cousin is Australia’s most entertaining player with the bat, Glenn Maxwell. Her first match is a clinical loss to Ukraine’s Maryna Lytovchenko, but she’ll be back. No one gets mad if you play a switch hit in table tennis.

2.41am BST

Cycling: We saw a lot of world records fall at the velodrome during the Olympics, often just a few minutes apart. The women’s C1-C3 individual pursuit (held over 3000 metres has a new mark: Wang Xiaomei of China has become the first woman get get below four minutes, and has smashed past it with 3:55:781. On her qualifying lap.

The twist: she takes the record from Australia’s Paige Greco, who set it in 2019, and is due to race shortly.

2.35am BST

Table tennis: Koyo wins! Gets enough space to really lay into his forehand on a couple of occasions, which Facey Thompson can’t handle, and that gets Koyo another match point. This time he takes it. But these are group matches, there is no elimination as yet.

2.34am BST

Table tennis: Koyo gets out to a 10-7 lead, but Facey Thompson saves three match point and gets back to 10-all!

2.30am BST

Table tennis: Ashley Facey Thompson playing out a cracker with Iwabuchi Koyo. They’re 5-4 in the fifth set.

2.16am BST

Women’s 100m butterfly S14: Valeriia Shabalina, the Russian world record holder, wins her heat. No surprise, but Australia’s Paige Leonhardt got the best start off the blocks and led Shabalina past the turn. Just that Shabalina’s burst of closing speed was unstoppable. They both qualify faster than Chan Yui Lam of China in heat one. GBR’s Jessica-Jane Applegate qualifies second in that heat, along with her compatriot Louise Fiddes and Australia’s Ruby Storm as the third-placed swimmers in each. Moemi Kinoshita (Japan) and Cheung Ho Ying (China) round out the eight.

2.10am BST

Table tennis: Australia’s Ma Lin, the four-time winner of gold, has breezed past Great Britain’s Joshua Stacey in straight sets. Ashley Facey Thompson has levelled his match 1-1.

2.03am BST

Goalball: Brazil win the opening men’s match 11-2, against a strong Lithuanian side.

2.02am BST

Women’s 100m backstroke S2: Only nine competitors across the two heats in this event, and the top eight qualify. Katarina Draganov-Cordas of Serbia is the swimmer to drop out.

2.00am BST

Men’s 100m backstroke S2: Vladimir Danilenko qualifies fastest for Russia, a split second faster than the other heat led by Chile’s Alberto Abarza.

1.56am BST

Table tennis: Australia’s Lina Lei has won her opening match against Brazil’s Jennyfer Marques Parinos in straight sets. Great Britain’s Ashley Facey Thompson is trailing Japan’s Iwabuchi Koyo and has just lost the first set.

1.41am BST

Goalball: Brazil are bossing this opening men’s match, leading 7-1 at a timeout in the second period.

1.40am BST

Women’s 400m freestyle S9: Fastest qualifier here is the Hungarian swimmer Zsofia Konkoly, with Toni Shaw of Great Britain not far behind. The other heat goes slower, with an Australian one-two of Ellie Cole and Lakeisha Patterson. Cole goes out hard in the first two laps and holds a lead, with Patterson happy to hang behind. The eight fastest swimmers will go through.

1.37am BST

Men’s 400m freestyle S9: Australia’s Alexander Tuckfield qualifies fastest for the final, with compatriots William Martin and world-record holder, Brenden Hall qualifying from the other heat. Simone Barlaam of Italy wins that second heat, about three seconds slower than the first.

1.21am BST

Plenty. Times are as per Tokyo, which is GMT+9. Add one more hour for Australia, minus 8 hours for the UK, scan from there for your timezone of choice.

9am - Swimming. Heats for freestyle ranging from 50m to 400m, the 100m butterfly and 100m breaststroke. The medals start from 5pm.
9am - Goalball. Brazil and Lithuania in the men’s comp start the first of seven games today.
9am - Wheelchair fencing. Preliminary bouts have just begun and run through straight into the quarterfinals. The semis and finals start from 15:30.
9am - Table tennis. A whole stack of singles matches happening through the next six hours.
10am - Wheelchair basketball. Algeria play China in the women’s group B match. Netherlands USA at 11:15. Great Britain and Canada at 14:25. Australia and Japan at 17:00. The men’s match between Spain and Korea is at 20:30.
10am - Track cycling. Qualifying for the individual pursuit categories starts here. The medal races start from 13:45.
11:30 - Wheelchair rugby. USA and New Zealand first up in the mixed preliminaries. Australia Denmark at 14:00, Great Britain Canada at 17:30, Japan France at 20:00.

1.00am BST

Good indistinct time greeting to you all. We are, as Whoopi Goldberg may once have said, back in the habit.*

* The line does not appear in the film Sister Act II: Back in the Habit, but is solely a wordplay-based tagline to add to the film’s title.

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Published on August 25, 2021 06:53

Tokyo 2020 Paralympics day one: swimming, cycling, wheelchair rugby and more – live!

First medals on offer on packed opening day in TokyoGames schedule | Results | Medal table | Full coverageSign up for the Guardian’s daily Paralympic briefing Email David, tweet @DaveTindallgolf or comment below

1.55pm BST

Wheelchair Rugby: Some thrilling games today. If you missed it earlier, Denmark pipped Australia 54-53 before Great Britain edged Canada 50-47. In today’s final match, the drama continued with Japan seeing off France 53-51.

1.46pm BST

Goalball: In the final game of the day, United States beat Brazil 6-4.

1.43pm BST

Here’s Greg Wood’s report on how ParalympicsGB fared in the pool on day one.

1.33pm BST

A few extra quotes from Tully Kearney after her silver medal.

There was a question mark over whether I’d ever get to a Paralympic Games and the fact that I’ve been able to race and come away with a medal is crazy.

I thought after Rio, the Paralympics wouldn’t be possible, I wouldn’t be able to swim any more, so this is obviously a massive deal and it’s all down to the amazing support staff, the amazing team – I just swam.

1.22pm BST

This is a great listen from the Guardian’s ‘Today in Focus’ series. I challenge anyone to hear Sophie Carrigill’s story and not be absolutely drawn in and inspired by her infectious positivity. Wheelchair basketball is always one of the Paralympics’ great watches.

1.12pm BST

Some great snaps here in our day one picture gallery from Tokyo.

1.01pm BST

Jonnie Peacock, one of ParalympicsGB’s star names, says he’s peaking at the right time ahead of his bid to win a third T64 100m title after taking gold in London 2012 and Rio 2016.

Peacock had a hamstring injury earlier in the season but believes he’s in great shape again.

12.51pm BST

If you missed it earlier, here’s Paul McInnes reporting from the Izu Velodrome on how Sarah Storey won her 15th (15th!!) Paralympic gold and broke her own world record in the process. Oh, and she’s not stopping there.

12.44pm BST

Tully Kearney sounds a little reflective after being interviewed following her silver medal swim in the 200m freestyle S5 event. It was so close to a gold but she signs off by saying “got to be pleased with that” so onwards to the next race. Here’s her back story.

Completing a lifelong dream ✨

Learn more about @TullyKearney who competes in the S5 200m freestyle final, coming soon on @Channel4...#Tokyo2020 #C4Paralympics pic.twitter.com/zhjbHK5YIA

12.38pm BST

Thanks my friend. A great start for the Australians. Geoff’s a happy man although I’d like to get his view on Ian Botham becoming UK trade ambassador to Australia. Here’s Marina Hyde’s take.

12.35pm BST

That’s it for me. So what did we see today?

12.28pm BST

Teo Teng Kiat emails in. “That’s Pin Xiu’s fourth Paralympic gold. Tears of joy as she sang our anthem too. Absolute legend for Singapore sport!”

12.27pm BST

If you’re Australian, peep that medal tally. Six gold, ten total, top of the pops on either measure on the first day of competition.

12.26pm BST

Swimming: Ben Popham wins the men’s 100m freestyle S8 category. He has a bad start, he has a bad turn, but he has more ability to crank up the horsepower in the straight. He’s third or fourth coming out of the turn, then he puts the Yamaha down out the back of the Speedos and races to the touch! He’s weeping in the pool. A good place to do it, easy to clean up.

12.22pm BST

Swimming: One more race in the pool tonight.

12.21pm BST

Swimming: Well! Tully Kearney, as locked on a gold medal chance as you could find, gets caught in the last few metres. She qualified fastest, a second and a half quicker than second place, seven seconds quicker than the rest. But Zhang Li ploughs through the last 50 as Kearney starts to tire, and beats her to the wall with a half stroke on her final approach. Remarkable finish. Gold to China, silver to Great Britain, bronze to Italy’s Monica Boggioni.

This is the 200m freestyle S5 event, the classification that includes swimmers who have the majority use of their arms and hands, but limited or no use of their legs. Kearney has to rely on her arm speed, and you could see her strokes starting to fade through the final lap.

12.05pm BST

Table tennis: Australia’s Jake Ballestrino has lost his first group match in Class 7 to Egypt’s Sayed Mohammed Youssef. GB’s Megan Shackleston has just started her match against China’s Zhou Ying.

11.56am BST

Four golds today, and it’s a Chinese sweep. In women’s sabre Category B, Tan Shumei. In Category A, Bian Jing. In men’s sabre Category B, Feng Yanke. And in Category A, Li Hao. Should be quite the party in their quarters tonight.

11.52am BST

Rowan Crothers is now receiving his gold medal for the 50 freestyle. Go you good thing. Singing lustily, looking very emotional. I think we saw some tears in the eyes.

11.51am BST

Swimming: In the 100m butterfly S13 finals, both the men’s and women’s gold medallists set new Paralympic records without getting the world mark. Ihar Boki, the Belarussian champion, takes the men’s medal ahead of Ukrainian Oleksii Virchenko and Islam Aslanov from Uzbekistan.

In the women’s race, Italy goes gold-silver with Carlotta Gilli and Alessia Berra, with Russia’s Daria Pikalova in third.

11.46am BST

Goalball: And that’s what happens! A penalty is called against Australia. Horsburgh has to defend it on her own. She can’t keep it out, and at a scoreline of 11-1, we have what is called a ‘mercy’: where the game gets called complete. With about six minutes left on the clock.

That was quite the thrashing for Australia. Didn’t score from open play. Scored once from a penalty. A lot of flat shots that were easily stopped. Two or three decent shots that almost sneaked through the defence, and one off the crossbar. But it was popgun compared to Israel’s shooting, which constantly got good bounce and backspin to get over or past defenders even when they did make contact with the ball.

11.42am BST

Goalball: Israel up 10-1 over Australia in the women’s match, one goal away from it being called off early.

11.31am BST

Table tennis: Australian paddle-wielder Samuel Philip Einem won a set against Asano Takashi but loses his first group match 3-1.

11.29am BST

Goalball: At half time, 7-1 in the Israel-Australia women’s match.

11.28am BST

Swimming: Gold for Anastasiia Gontar (Russia) in the women’s S9 50 metre freestyle, ahead of Chantelle Zijderveld (Netherlands) and Aurelie Rivard (Canada). Zara Mulloolly finishes seventh for Great Britain.

11.24am BST

Goalball: Just as we post that, Australia scores! A penalty for an incorrect throw, meaning only one defender is allowed to face the attacker on the subsequent shot. Meica Jayne Horsburgh rolls it in.

11.21am BST

Goalball: The Australian women’s team in strife against Israel, 8-0 down before half time. If the margin gets to 10 then the game gets called off immediately.

11.16am BST

Swimming: Rowan Crothers charges home in the men’s 50m S10 category. Five hundredths of a second outside the world record. Maksym Krypak and Phelipe Melo Rodrigues are on his shoulder the whole way, in the lanes either side, but the Ukrainian settles for silver and the Brazilian for bronze.

11.08am BST

Goalball: If you’re not familiar with it, this is the three-player team sport for blind athletes. All players wear eye shades so that they’re equally unsighted. They try to protect a goal that stretches the length of the court by listening for bells embedded in the match ball. Then they serve to try to score.

Israel get off to a flyer, 3-0 up early after two mistakes in defence and one penalty shot given away by the Australian women.

11.02am BST

Swimming: Down to the 50 metres free, first in the S6 category. In the women’s sprint final, it’s a three-way battle all the way to the wall. The Ukrainians take gold and bronze, Yelyzaveta Mereshko and Anna Hontar. USA’s Elizabeth Marks is the silver filling in the sandwich, just 0.04 from a win in what is not typically her event.

In the men’s SB3, the Russian Roman Zdhanov breaks the world record with 46.49 seconds. Spaniard Miguel Luque silver, Japan’s Suzuki Takayuki bronze.

10.53am BST

Table tennis: Yang Qian wins a five-setter for Australia, coming back from 2-1 down after winning the first. Her first group match.

10.51am BST

Wheelchair basketball: Great Britain win 50-47, strategically pausing before scoring late to deny Canada enough time to score again going the other way.

10.44am BST

Wheelchair basketball: Canada close within two tries after a sneaky steal, but they’re running out of time to close that final gap.

10.40am BST

Wheelchair basketball: Great Britain up 41-38 against Canada with five minutes left. Both teams scoring freely.

10.38am BST

“Did you know that Trischa Zorn, the most decorated Paralympian in history, won nearly twice as many medals as Michael Phelps (the most decorated Olympian in history)?” emails in Kurt Perleberg. “Trischa Zorn won 57 medals from Arnhem 1980 to Athens 2004, and Michael Phelps won 28 medals from Athens 2004 to Rio 2016.”

Zorn was also a swimmer, in just about every event, and was blind from birth. I’ll add that 41 of Zorn’s medals were gold.

10.32am BST

Wheelchair basketball: Japan have absolutely demolished Australia in this women’s pool match, 47 to 73.

10.30am BST

Ruby Storm is a great name, by the way. Sounds like a powerful cartoon horse with a rainbow mane. Or a crystal in a new-age shop. Or a Command and Conquer sequel.

10.26am BST

Wheelchair rugby! We’ve got the close one. Great Britain 32, Canada 29, as the big blokes smash into each other in collision chairs. What a sport. Third quarter, three minutes to go.

10.21am BST

Swimming: Her own record goes, as she wins the women’s 100m S14 butterfly by a distance! The two Australians take silver and bronze, Paige Leonhardt and then Ruby Storm, who closed out the race really well. She’s in tears of happiness, is Storm. To give you a sense of the dominance, Leonhardt in second place was a good two seconds behind Shabalina, in a two-lap race.

The men’s 100m S14 gold goes to Brazil’s Gabriel Bandeira in a boilover, ahead of the favourite and world record holder Reece Dunn of Great Britain. Benjamin Hance takes the bronze for Australia.

10.09am BST

Table tennis: Australia’s Melissa Tapper has beaten Lin Tzu Yu in their Class 10 group match. Another Australian, Yang Qian, is up one set to nil against China’s Zhao Xiaojing.

Susan Bailey of GB has lost to Borislava Peric Rankovic of Serbia.

10.07am BST

Wheelchair basketball: Third quarter, Japan leading Australia 46-37 in the women’s match.

10.03am BST

Now it’s Lakeisha Patterson’s turn. Singing the Australian anthem behind her mask as she stands on the dais, before waving her bunch of flowers to the crowd. Once she’s allowed to take off her mask briefly for photos, she’s beaming.

9.58am BST

Swimming: In the women’s 100m backstroke S2 final, Yip Pin Xiu takes gold for Singapore. Yamada Miyuki picks up silver for Japan, Fabiola Ramirez bronze for Mexico, after trailing as far back as fifth earlier in the race.

Here’s the medal ceremony for the men’s 400m, and Will Martin has his moment on the podium as the Australian anthem plays.

9.44am BST

Swimming: The men’s 100m backstroke finals are swum, in the S1 and S2 categories. Iyad Shalabi takes out the S1 gold for Israel, with Anton Kol silver for Ukraine and Francesco Bettella bronze for Italy.

In the S2, gold goes to Alberto Abarza of Chile, ahead of Brazil’s Gabriel dos Santos Araujo and Russia’s Vladimir Danilenko.

9.41am BST

Wheelchair basketball: Half time between Japan and Australia’s women, the hosts leading 34 to 28.

9.33am BST

Until someone tells me otherwise, I’m going to assume from voice alone that the commentator on the world swimming feed is Kristen Schall. It makes me happy.

9.23am BST

Swimming: Lakeisha Patterson holds on! By eight hundredths of a second, in the women’s 400m S9! She goes out hard early, over a body length ahead by the 200 metre mark. Perhaps thinking that she doesn’t have the closing speed of Hungary’s Zsofia Konkoly and and GB’s Toni Shaw. They do start making ground in the last 100, and are looking to strike in the last 50, but Patterson gives it everything she’s got. It looks to me like Konkoly is about to catch her in the last 30, and perhaps even shades ahead, but Patterson finds something extra to hold ground. They stroke for the wall at the same time, and Patterson touches first.

Shaw gets bronze, Australia’s Ellie Cole is fourth.

9.12am BST

Swimming: But not for the world record holder and gold medallist from the last two games, Brenden Hall. He slips to fourth and can’t find any way to rally in the last 100 metres. The winner instead is Will Martin! He is ahead of world record time into the last 30 metres before falling just behind it late. But he went out strongly and led the whole way. A powerful swim.

4:10:25, it’s a Paralympic Games record in the 400m S9.

9.05am BST

Swimming: The men’s 400m S9 final is underway! Three Australians in the field. Or more accurately, in the pool.

9.02am BST

Swimming: The bell tolls 5pm in Tokyo, and this is now pretty much a swimming blog for the next three hours. I’ll try to keep half an eye on other things, but there are a lot of medals up for grabs on night one in the pool. Or is this night two? I don’t know who decides these things.

8.58am BST

Wheelchair fencing: The placements for the gold medal matches have been decided.

Men’s sabre, category A:
Artem Manko (Ukraine)
Li Hao (China)

8.50am BST

Table tennis: Australia’s Joel Coughlan is up in the men’s Class 10 group matches, having just lost the first set to Montenegro’s Filip Radovic.

8.48am BST

If you haven’t caught it yet, here is Paul’s take on the opening ceremony.

8.21am BST

Wheelchair basketball: Canada blew away Great Britain late in the fourth quarter. It ends 54-73 in the Group A match. GB will play Australia, Germany, and Japan next. Although four of the five teams in each pool make the quarters, so there’s no great pressure yet.

8.18am BST

Thanks Emma. Can’t keep me away. What is on tonight, I hear you ask? Bloody well stacks, is my regionally specific answer.

8.02am BST

While we are on the topic of wheelchair basketball, Kieran Pender has written a piece on one of Australia’s men’s players, Jannik Blair, about his backstory and his new customised carbon fibre wheelchair seat.

7.55am BST

Wheelchair basketball: It’s three-quarter-time and Canada’s lead has blown out to 45-39. They won that quarter 19-10, and the Brits have work to do to make up the difference.

7.52am BST

Here is the medal table as it stands, for those who enjoy a bit of AUS/GBR rivalry:

7.41am BST

Wheelchair basketball: Team GB’s women are ahead 29-26 leading into the third term of their opening Group A match against Canada. It has been a pretty evenly matched encounter but Kathleen Dandeneau has been the star with a 15-point haul for Canada.

7.33am BST

Wheelchair rugby: Well well well, Paralympics newbies Denmark have beaten Australia. It was tied at 53-53 with 15 seconds on the clock and Sebastian Frederiksen used the time efficiently to score and inch ahead 54-53. Ryley Batt wheeled away up the other end of the court with his eyes on the target but concedes a turnover after the ball is ruled out of bounds. What can the Danes do in 2.7 seconds? What can anybody do in 2.7 seconds? In truth they don’t need to do anything but hold onto the ball until the whistle goes. Major upset.

7.24am BST

Some more detail on Storey’s insane achievement:

7.19am BST

Wheelchair rugby: Denmark’s men have the upper hand over Australia, leading 47-46 with just under four minutes to place.

7.12am BST

Track cycling: Sensational ride from Tristan Bangma, the Dutch rising star who has just dethroned British defending champion Stephen Bate in the tandem race for visually impaired athletes. Bangma started comfortably in front and overlapped just after the 3,000m mark. Pole Marcin Polak claimed bronze by 0.276 seconds from Frenchman Alexandre Lloveras.

7.00am BST

Here is a report on Australia’s golden start:

6.52am BST

Track cycling: Sarah Storey has cleaned up in a Team GB one-two, overlapping compatriot Crystal Lane-Wright. It is Storey’s 15th Paralympic gold across two different sports and eight Games. If that’s not enough to intimidate Lane-Wright nothing is. France’s Marie Patouillet won her bronze medal race against Kiwi Nicole Murray.

6.44am BST

Wheelchair rugby: At half-time Australia have pulled ahead 25-23. Captain Ryley Batt, playing at his fifth Paralympics, scored the last two tries to take his haul to 13. That tops the output of Denmark’s Sebastian Frederiksen on 11. The disability class of both players is 3.5.

For the uninitiated, players are given an official classification depending on their level of functional ability, rated from 0.5 to 3.5 with 0.5 being the most severe. Generally, the higher-rated players have more speed and mobility and so fill attacking roles. Four players are on the court for each time and the total points of those four players cannot exceed 8.5.

6.34am BST

Wheelchair rugby: The Danes have thrown down the gauntlet to Australia, matching them goal for goal partly thanks to some brutally on-point defence. As the clock ticks down to the end of the second quarter the score stands at 21-21.

6.28am BST

Medal ceremonies are under way at the velodrome, which is pretty spesh. Even without a crowd it feels as if there is a vibe watching on TV. I’m sure it’s all real noise.

And amusingly, Channel Seven has just shown the medal table. On day one. After two events. Unsurprisingly, Australia have two gold medals and sit top. Stop the count.

6.18am BST

Greco has spoken to Seven and she’s pretty emotional.

“Sorry,” she saays through tears. “I’m just so happy. Can’t believe we did it. It was a good race. Yeah. I still can’t believe it. I can’t thank the team at AusCycling [enough], my coach, their support is amazing. My family and friends, wouldn’t be here without them.”

6.12am BST

The Australian’s lead blew out to seven seconds at the 2,000m mark and she rolled her soon thereafter.

6.09am BST

Emily Petricola is going for Australia’s second gold in as many attempts in her gold medal race against the US’s Shawn Morelli. As it stands at the 1,000m mark is she a second and a half in the lead.

6.06am BST

Meg Lemon has just missed out on bronze in the women’s C4 3000m individual pursuit to Canadian Keely Shaw, who comfortably accounted for her Australian counterpart.

6.04am BST

Someone was watching:

GOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!
Paige Greco dominates for Australia for our first Gold Medal in the #Tokyo2020 #Paralympics
World Record to boot!!!!

6.01am BST

It’s gold gold gold for Australia! That world record is the seventh (seventh!) on the track today and the second set by Greco. Probably the most remarkable element of Greco’s performance in that race is that her first 250m or so were near-identical to her last race.

5.58am BST

The Australian has finished in an astonishing 3:50.815.

5.56am BST

Greco, who posted a new world record earlier in qualifying, was quicker at the 1,000m mark than then. In other words, this is QUICK. Wang slightly off the pace.

5.54am BST

Paige Greco takes some deep breaths as she and Wang Xiaomei start clean out of the gate.

5.53am BST

Schindler has done it, and she’s clearly pumped about it. Brown was dangling the carrot towards the end there and she has bettered her heat time with a 3:55.120 here. Brown finishes in 4:01.523. Gold medal race coming up.

5.51am BST

Germany’s Denise Schindler is ahead in the women’s C1 3000m Individual Pursuit bronze medal match-up against American Clara Brown.

5.41am BST

I’ve dallied in changing the byline on this blog and thus been moonlighting as one Geoff Lemon for the past half an hour. I am now officially Emma, and my details can be found above for any questions, concerns or gems of wisdom. Track cycling about to get under way so I’m going to hang out at the Izu Velodrome for a bit.

5.34am BST

Here’s that story on the possible Covid cluster in the athletes’ village:

5.32am BST

If the Kiwi readers out there need some more rugby to take your minds of the, erm, rugby, Australia are due to play Denmark in half an hour. Wheelchair rugby – for me at least – is one of the highlights of the Paralympics. It might be because it was unofficially called “murderball” back in the day, soon after the game was invented in Canada in the ‘70s. Not a bad nickname considering the mix of basketball, football and ice hockey and the copious collisions.

5.23am BST

Some handy background reading on Australia’s early gold medal hopes who are due to compete in not too long:

Australia has the chance to snare the first two gold medals of the Tokyo Paralympics after Paige Greco and Emily Petricola posted new cycling world records to qualify for their respective finals.

5.17am BST

Thanks Geoff. I will indeed travel with you. To the track, for sure. But first, to other destinations yonder in the Paralympics field of dreams. But before that, and because Tokyo 2020 isn’t really Tokyo 2020 without a Covid scare, this from the Guardian’s man on the ground Paul MacInnes:

Two more athletes have tested positive for Covid 19 in the Paralympic village, with officials awaiting information to confirm if a cluster of infection has broken out.

The news comes as ParalympicsGB confirmed a member of their coaching staff, part of the wheelchair tennis team, has been confirmed as having the virus and is now in isolation.

Daily results published by the Tokyo Paralympics organising committee found that 16 positive cases had been recorded amongst the extensive testing programme. Five of those individuals were in the Village, where athletes, coaching and support staff are supposed to be within a Covid secure bubble.

The rest of the positive results were found amongst contractors and games personnel, while one member of the media tested positive.

Tokyo 2020 spokesperson Masa Takaya said the results would now be referred to specialists.

“It seems that those with the positive cases come from different sports and different countries”, he told Inside the Games. “Whether or not there is a cluster should come from the advice from the specialists. We will continue to listen to the advice and try to provide accurate information to the media.”

ParalympicsGB said that a staff member had tested positive for the virus before arriving at the village after testing negative upon arrival in Japan and at a training camp.

The GB chef de mission, Penny Briscoe, said “we fully respect and continue to adhere” to the Tokyo 2020 Covid protocols. British officials are now tracing the individual’s recent contacts.

ParalympicsGB also confirmed that a member of the table tennis team, David Wetherill, has been deselected for breaching his team’s code of conduct. The organising body said they would be providing no further information while an arbitration process was conducted.

5.08am BST

That’s enough from me. Cycling medals start in about 40 minutes, and there’s plenty more coming as well. Emma Kemp will travel with you for the next wee while. Away with you.

5.06am BST

Wheelchair rugby: USA won 63-35 over New Zealand. One day of national weeping has been scheduled in the Shaky Isles.

5.05am BST

Cycling: Yet another world record at the track: Netherlands’ Ned Bangma in the men’s B 4000m individual pursuit, in 3:59:47. Another record busted by over four seconds, and he’s the first man under four minutes in this race. He’ll race for gold against GB’s Stephen Bate.

Marcin Polak and Alexandre Lloveras, of Poland and France, race for bronze.

4.53am BST

Table tennis: Great Britain’s Ross Wilson also had a win first up, while Australia’s Lisa Daniela di Toro did not. Wilson beat Clement Berthier, who if you hadn’t guessed is French. The picador for di Toro was Sandra Mikolascheck of Germany.

4.50am BST

Table tennis: Aaron McKibbin won the Ashes of Table Tennis 3-0, in tribute to the scoreline achieved most recently by Alastair Cook’s men in 2013.

4.48am BST

Wheelchair fencing: On Brit-watch, Gemma Collis McCann is out of the women’s sabre after losing her four pool matches.

4.44am BST

Cycling: In the men’s individual pursuit 4000m B, for vision-impaired riders, Great Britain’s Neil Fachie is already out of the medal reckoning in fifth spot and James Ball failed to finish. Stephen Bate, the Paralympic record holder, is yet to ride.

4.40am BST

Wheelchair basketball: A volley of shots from Netherlands near the end: de Rooij, Beijer, Kramer, Visser, all sinking two-pointers before Visser lands a couple of uncontested free throws after an unsportsmanlike foul is called against the USA. The Americans score on the buzzer but the final margin is suddenly 68-58 to the Dutch. Way to close it out.

4.33am BST

Wheelchair basketball: The Dutch are going to win. They’re up by eight.

4.32am BST

Wheelchair basketball: A couple of missed threes from the USA and they keep turning the ball over to Netherlands who clear defensively. Kramer scores again for the Dutch and they’re up by six! Three minutes left, Kramer misses her subsequent free throw but clears up her own rebound. No score results, Ryan scores for USA to close it to 60-56.

4.28am BST

Wheelchair basketball: Netherlands up 58-54 after sinking a couple of twos.

4.26am BST

Wheelchair basketball: The Dutch won’t go away! 54-54 at a timeout in the fourth, six minutes left.

4.10am BST

Paul MacInnes on Sarah Storey: “Her tongue was hanging out on that last lap, so she was feeling it, but the pace was serious from start to finish. Looks like gold medal number one of the games for her could well be incoming...”

Add it to the pile. She’s got more gold than Smaug.

4.09am BST

Wheelchair rugby: USA leading 29-17 over New Zealand as half time arrives.

4.07am BST

The Great Dame does the job at the age of 43. She rides 327:807, beating her own world record by more than four seconds. Huge advances on the records today, both at the drome and in the pool. She’ll ride off against Crystal Lane-Wright for gold, which means...

Great Britain is guaranteed a gold medal. One way or the other. That should make some of you lot in the Isles happy.

4.02am BST

Table tennis: Nathan Pellissier and Aaron McKibbin are starting off, Australia v Great Britain, in what many are called the Ashes of Table Tennis.

3.58am BST

Cycling: Dame Sarah Story is up next at the velodrome.

3.56am BST

Wheelchair basketball: A close one in the women’s game, the USA leading 36-34 against Netherlands.

3.55am BST

Wheelchair rugby: USA leading New Zealand 16-10 in the men’s game, second period. It’s been intense.

3.54am BST

Ode to a Lemon
Pablo Neruda

Out of lemon flowers
loosed
on the moonlight, love’s
lashed and insatiable
essences,
sodden with fragrance,
the lemon tree’s yellow
emerges,the lemons
move down
from the tree’s planetarium

3.50am BST

Cycling: I was glad to see an Australian rider named Meg Lemon on the card. She’s qualified to ride for bronze in the C4 individual pursuit against Canada’s Keely Shaw, with Petricola tackling USA’s Shawn Morelli for gold.

But then the commentators kept pronouncing her as Meg Le Mon. I hope that’s just their error. Because, mate. If you want to say it like that, put a space in it.

3.46am BST

Paul MacInnes is the Guardian’s reporter at the velodrome.

“What we are seeing is some incredible cycling here in Izu. Emily Petricola just became the fifth female rider in four classifications to set a world record today. The 41-year-old, who has multiple sclerosis, took a whole six seconds off her own record that she set just last year. Five records in a morning is not normal: I asked Paige Greco and she confirmed it. The question all us Brits are asking is: will Sarah Storey be next?”

3.43am BST

“I misread your first missive and thought it said NZ v Aus in the wheelchair rugby. Huge grudge match!” writes Joe Barnes. “What is wheelchair rugby? I bet those athletes are as hard as nails, is it a bit brutal?”

It is. For endurance as well as collisions. It’s honesty more like NFL then rugby, in that players can pass forward and score in an endzone. It’s played on a basketball style court with a round ball. Players throw passes on the full or on the bounce to teammates, and can race around with the ball on their laps. Someone has to roll through the endzone or catch it in the endzone to score. Collisions are allowed, through players don’t grab each other’s bodies or chairs.

3.40am BST

Goalball: The Russians beat Canada 5-1 in the first game of the women’s comp.

3.38am BST

Wheelchair rugby: Look away, New Zealanders: the USA leads New Zealand 6-3. Trailing America in any form of rugby must be mortifying.

3.34am BST

That’s all of the swimming until the finals begin at 17:00 hours Tokyo time.

3.33am BST

Swimming: Ben Popham qualifies fastest for Australia in the men’s 100m S8 third heat, swimming 58.95. Only three other swimmers across the heats dip under one minute.

3.28am BST

Wheelchair basketball: The Dutch are hanging in there with the States near the end of the first quarter, 12-14.

3.25am BST

Swimming: Antoni Bertran Ponce qualifies first for Spain in the men’s 200m freestyle S5. Great Britain get a double in the women’s equivalent: Susanna Hext in one heat and Tully Kearney in the other.

3.20am BST

Wheelchair fencing: There is no television coverage of this event, for a reason that I don’t know. Literally zero. Not on any of the streams, and it’s listed on the Games site as being untelevised. Which means that I can’t tell you much, as there are a million bouts being held today. They’re all part of a pool round, where each fencer fights a range of opponents, so if you’re following someone in particular check here.

3.16am BST

Cycling: Another one down! Emily Petricola in the women’s C4 individual pursuit burns around in 3:38:061, breaking her own record by over six seconds. The Australian women are having a good time on the track.

3.14am BST

Wheelchair basketball: Algeria got towelled up by China in the opening women’s match, going down 25 to 74. Ouch. Netherlands USA up next.

3.10am BST

Cycling: So in the women’s C1-C3 individual pursuit, Paige Greco and Wang Xiaomei will race for gold later in the day. At 13:52 Tokyo time to be precise. Germany and the USA will race for bronze, via Denise Schindler and Clara Brown.

3.07am BST

Swimming: For Australia, Ahmed Kelly sneaks into the final for the men’s 50m SB3. Rowan Crowthers qualifies first for the men’s 50m S10, with Thomas Gallagher also through. Keira Stephens misses out in the women’s equivalent, as does Kirralee Hayes in the women’s 100m butterfly S13.

Elizabeth Marks of the USA qualifies fastest in the women’s 50m S6. Ihar Boki of Belarus leads the men’s 100m butterly S13.

2.57am BST

Cycling: As anticipated! She carves it down to 3:52:283 around the velodrome. Between she and Wang, they’ve taken nearly eight seconds off the previous world record today.

2.53am BST

Men’s 100m butterfly S14: And speaking of them changing hands quickly - Australia’s Liam Schluter sets a new Paralymic record in the first heat, swimming 58.38 in the fly. He then watches three swimmers beat it in the very next heat. Then five more swimmers go past it in the third! Jesus, are they swimming in water or rocket fuel? The sixth swimmer in the third heat ties Schluter’s time (I’m not sure who’s ahead if we go deep into the decimals.)

So poor old Liam breaks the record in heat one, then doesn’t make the final.

2.43am BST

Table tennis: Rebecca Julian has just completed her first match, representing Australia. One for cricket lovers: her cousin is Australia’s most entertaining player with the bat, Glenn Maxwell. Her first match is a clinical loss to Ukraine’s Maryna Lytovchenko, but she’ll be back. No one gets mad if you play a switch hit in table tennis.

2.41am BST

Cycling: We saw a lot of world records fall at the velodrome during the Olympics, often just a few minutes apart. The women’s C1-C3 individual pursuit (held over 3000 metres has a new mark: Wang Xiaomei of China has become the first woman get get below four minutes, and has smashed past it with 3:55:781. On her qualifying lap.

The twist: she takes the record from Australia’s Paige Greco, who set it in 2019, and is due to race shortly.

2.35am BST

Table tennis: Koyo wins! Gets enough space to really lay into his forehand on a couple of occasions, which Facey Thompson can’t handle, and that gets Koyo another match point. This time he takes it. But these are group matches, there is no elimination as yet.

2.34am BST

Table tennis: Koyo gets out to a 10-7 lead, but Facey Thompson saves three match point and gets back to 10-all!

2.30am BST

Table tennis: Ashley Facey Thompson playing out a cracker with Iwabuchi Koyo. They’re 5-4 in the fifth set.

2.16am BST

Women’s 100m butterfly S14: Valeriia Shabalina, the Russian world record holder, wins her heat. No surprise, but Australia’s Paige Leonhardt got the best start off the blocks and led Shabalina past the turn. Just that Shabalina’s burst of closing speed was unstoppable. They both qualify faster than Chan Yui Lam of China in heat one. GBR’s Jessica-Jane Applegate qualifies second in that heat, along with her compatriot Louise Fiddes and Australia’s Ruby Storm as the third-placed swimmers in each. Moemi Kinoshita (Japan) and Cheung Ho Ying (China) round out the eight.

2.10am BST

Table tennis: Australia’s Ma Lin, the four-time winner of gold, has breezed past Great Britain’s Joshua Stacey in straight sets. Ashley Facey Thompson has levelled his match 1-1.

2.03am BST

Goalball: Brazil win the opening men’s match 11-2, against a strong Lithuanian side.

2.02am BST

Women’s 100m backstroke S2: Only nine competitors across the two heats in this event, and the top eight qualify. Katarina Draganov-Cordas of Serbia is the swimmer to drop out.

2.00am BST

Men’s 100m backstroke S2: Vladimir Danilenko qualifies fastest for Russia, a split second faster than the other heat led by Chile’s Alberto Abarza.

1.56am BST

Table tennis: Australia’s Lina Lei has won her opening match against Brazil’s Jennyfer Marques Parinos in straight sets. Great Britain’s Ashley Facey Thompson is trailing Japan’s Iwabuchi Koyo and has just lost the first set.

1.41am BST

Goalball: Brazil are bossing this opening men’s match, leading 7-1 at a timeout in the second period.

1.40am BST

Women’s 400m freestyle S9: Fastest qualifier here is the Hungarian swimmer Zsofia Konkoly, with Toni Shaw of Great Britain not far behind. The other heat goes slower, with an Australian one-two of Ellie Cole and Lakeisha Patterson. Cole goes out hard in the first two laps and holds a lead, with Patterson happy to hang behind. The eight fastest swimmers will go through.

1.37am BST

Men’s 400m freestyle S9: Australia’s Alexander Tuckfield qualifies fastest for the final, with compatriots William Martin and world-record holder, Brenden Hall qualifying from the other heat. Simone Barlaam of Italy wins that second heat, about three seconds slower than the first.

1.21am BST

Plenty. Times are as per Tokyo, which is GMT+9. Add one more hour for Australia, minus 8 hours for the UK, scan from there for your timezone of choice.

9am - Swimming. Heats for freestyle ranging from 50m to 400m, the 100m butterfly and 100m breaststroke. The medals start from 5pm.
9am - Goalball. Brazil and Lithuania in the men’s comp start the first of seven games today.
9am - Wheelchair fencing. Preliminary bouts have just begun and run through straight into the quarterfinals. The semis and finals start from 15:30.
9am - Table tennis. A whole stack of singles matches happening through the next six hours.
10am - Wheelchair basketball. Algeria play China in the women’s group B match. Netherlands USA at 11:15. Great Britain and Canada at 14:25. Australia and Japan at 17:00. The men’s match between Spain and Korea is at 20:30.
10am - Track cycling. Qualifying for the individual pursuit categories starts here. The medal races start from 13:45.
11:30 - Wheelchair rugby. USA and New Zealand first up in the mixed preliminaries. Australia Denmark at 14:00, Great Britain Canada at 17:30, Japan France at 20:00.

1.00am BST

Good indistinct time greeting to you all. We are, as Whoopi Goldberg may once have said, back in the habit.*

* The line does not appear in the film Sister Act II: Back in the Habit, but is solely a wordplay-based tagline to add to the film’s title.

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Published on August 25, 2021 05:55

The Hundred men’s final: Southern Brave beat Birmingham Phoenix – as it happened!

Southern Brave lost in the women’s final to Oval Invincibles but the men did end up with a trophy after beating Birmingham Phoenix

9.28pm BST

So it’s the Oval Invincibles in the women’s comp, and Southern Brave in the men’s. The Oval team is down on the field now as well, taking their photos and enjoying a more leisurely moment than they had between matches earlier.

The Hundred has happened. It didn’t get rained out, it didn’t get virused out. Matches were held and people came. It was, in the end, cricket. The questions over whether it needed to happen in this form were never really answered. But the arguments over whether it should have happened have not stopped it happening, and it was in many measures a success. Make of all that what you will.

9.27pm BST

Liam Livingstone is named the Player of the Tournament for the men. Dane van Niekerk is Player of the Tournament for the women.

9.21pm BST

James Vince has a chat, does the formalities, and then is allowed to get up onto the stage with his team to receive the trophy. Green lights are burning all around. Tymal Mills hoists the big H above his head, then hands it around the group. George Lintott is having a good time. Everyone gets a go at lifting up the trophy, while smoke machines pump out visible vapour.

9.11pm BST

There it is. The club lost the women’s final earlier today, but will take home a big H trophy for the men. They had what you need in this format: several contributors with the bat. Stirling, Davies, David and the turbocharge at the end from Whiteley got them to a big score.

Then it was over to a very good, varied, disciplined bowling attack to defend 169. Three left-armers, high pace and slower balls, wrist spin, lots of tricks in the bag.

9.11pm BST

100 balls: Birmingham Phoenix 136-5 (Benjamin 23, Howell 20) All a bit meandering in the final over, but Jordan at least is still has the good grace to look annoyed: Benny Howell slices away four off an outside edge, then opens the face and drives nicely through backward point for another, and finishes the innings with a third through cover.

9.07pm BST

95 balls: Birmingham Phoenix 123-5 (Benjamin 22, Howell 8) Fifty in 10 balls isn’t going to happen. Mills makes mathematically sure of it with a dot ball, a top-edged two, and a scooped single.

9.03pm BST

90 balls: Birmingham Phoenix 119-5 (Benjamin 20, Howell 7) Chris Jordan to bowl, and his plan is to bowl right-arm around the wicket, angled sharply across the right-handers and make it too hard for them to reach. He’s good enough to do it, too. The match is petering out.

9.01pm BST

85 balls: Birmingham Phoenix 116-5 (Benjamin 19, Howell 5) Tymal Mills, doing what he does. One ball at 90 miles, the next at 70. Zero runs scored as Howell can’t lay bat on him. Finally gets off strike from the third ball. Benjamin wants to score. And gets a shorter ball coming through at 92 miles an hour! Right through the batsman. No contact. So Benjamin shapes for the reverse lap shot next ball, planning to use the bowler’s pace. But Mills bowls at 69 miles an hour that time, and the shot just limps to the wicketkeeper.

Five balls, one run. Applause.

8.56pm BST

80 balls: Birmingham Phoenix 115-5 (Benjamin 19, Howell 4) There’s six for Benjamin! Drops to one knee against Overton and slams what is almost a kneeling pull shot over the fence. Then steps over and scoops four more, over short fine. The Rishabh Pant style rolling scoop. Then gets a high full toss that he could put anywhere, if he had a stable base. Instead he was already thinking about moving laterally, and so can only pull it off the top edge over mid on for two.

54 in 20 is the equation.

8.51pm BST

75 balls: Birmingham Phoenix 103-5 (Benjamin 7, Howell 4) The pressure has eased on Jordan, who is hitting a full length and keeping things very quiet. Singles are A-OK. No matter how hard Howell swings, he’s not getting anything but.

8.49pm BST

70 balls: Birmingham Phoenix 98-5 (Benjamin 5, Howell 1) Lintott does really well after the wicket, too, diving full length across the pitch to save runs with his outstretched left hand. His work wraps up for the day: 1 for 30 from 20 balls. You’d take that, in this format.

71 from 30 needed. Livingstone and Moeen could do it. Howell and Benjamin, less so.

8.47pm BST

Has to go for it. Moeen advances to the wrist spinner, hits straight and big, but all height and not long enough. Overton can just shuffle in from long on, and this time keeps his feet so he can use his hands.

8.45pm BST

65 balls: Birmingham Phoenix 97-4 (Moeen 36, Benjamin 5) Overton keeps the dry run going. Singles, singles. Even when he bowls a filthy full toss.

72 from 35 required.

8.42pm BST

60 balls: Birmingham Phoenix 92-4 (Moeen 34, Benjamin 2) Garton to finish his day of bowling, after his good work in the field. In at the hip of Moeen, who picks the gap behind square with his pull shot, splitting the two out there. It carries the rope for six. His third. Garton keeps the rest of the over tidy though.

They need 77 from 40 balls.

8.39pm BST

55 balls: Birmingham Phoenix 83-4 (Moeen 27, Benjamin 1) There was also a three in that over, by Moeen Ali. Few rarer sights in the Hundred. Courtesy of James Vince diving and tapping back a four.

8.37pm BST

Another one. Miles Hammond pulls Mills, gets a good piece, into the gap in the deep, but Garton in front of deep square leg runs squarer and lunges to his left for a tumbling, rolling take.

8.36pm BST

50 balls: Birmingham Phoenix 79-3 (Moeen 24, Hammond 2) Lintott returns now that the coast is clear. Except it isn’t. Moeen hits him for a straight six instead.

8.34pm BST

45 balls: Birmingham Phoenix 53-2 (Moeen 17, Livingstone 31) Chris Jordan to try to find some control for the team in green. But he bowls a wide, then has Livingstone top-edging four past the keeper. Length next, smacked over deep midwicket again. That one goes way into the night sky, so high up that it makes up the required distance even though it wasn’t hit perfectly. A diving attempt to knock it back, out by the boundary rope, doesn’t work. Six.

Drills four straight down the ground, next up. He’s flying. And then...

8.27pm BST

40 balls: Birmingham Phoenix 53-2 (Moeen 17, Livingstone 31) Lintott will bowl 10 in a row. Full toss that Moeen slaps untidily to deep cover for one. But Livingstone is getting going. Digs out a yorker straight down the ground for four. Flicks a leg-stump googly fine for four. Then drops and slog-sweeps six over midwicket! Drives a single at the end.

8.25pm BST

35 balls: Birmingham Phoenix 37-2 (Moeen 16, Livingstone 16) Jake Lintott, the left-arm wristy. A difficult art to master. He got brought into this tournament from local cricket, and now he’s got a Caribbean Premier League deal as well.

He beats Livingstone all ends up! Bowls a googly with real zip off the pitch, and it just beats the outside edge. Livingstone gets a single, and then Moeen Ali is dropped. Or not exactly dropped: slog sweep to deep mid, Overton comes around to catch it, then his foot slips from under him. He falls over, and tries diving forward from on one knee, but can’t reach it.

8.19pm BST

30 balls: Birmingham Phoenix 33-2 (Moeen 15, Livingstone 14) Tymal Mills to bowl. Left arm, fast when he wants to be, slower balls galore. Over the wicket to Livingstone who starts against him gently. Mills gets through his over for five singles, bowling back of a length at the body.

Birmingham need 136 from 70.

8.15pm BST

25 balls: Birmingham Phoenix 28-2 (Moeen 13, Livingstone 12) Garton bowling his third over to end the Powerplay. Livingstone has a look at one ball, watches a wide, and then hits six into the hospitality boxes! That is massive. Flat and loooooong distance. Some chaps in chinos come spilling out with drinks all over them. You’ve got to stay switched on at the cricket.

Next ball, off the pads and six more! LL, hard as hell.

8.11pm BST

20 balls: Birmingham Phoenix 14-2 (Moeen 12, Livingstone 0) The destruction machine is in. Livingstone needs a special one tonight. (No, not Jose Mourinho.)

8.10pm BST

That’s more like Moeen Ali! A little bit short, and that’s all he needs to pull Overton into the crowd. That looked crisp. Flicks a single to follow.

Another dot ball to Smeed ramps up the pressure on the other half of the partnership, and he follows up by trying to drive a ball over cover that is too short and too close to his body. Strong vibes of hit out or get out to that, and he gets out. Caught in the infield.

8.06pm BST

15 balls: Birmingham Phoenix 7-1 (Smeed 2, Moeen 5) Garton continues, and so does the drought. Dot and a single to Smeed. Moeen still can’t score. Finds the field, finds fresh air. They’ve got the incredibly destructive Liam Livingstone watching on. Moeen finally gets loose from the 15th ball of the innings, hitting Garton over mid on for four.

8.03pm BST

10 balls: Birmingham Phoenix 2-1 (Smeed 1, Moeen 1) Fifth ball until Moeen gets a run. This isn’t a format where you can afford a slow start. Craig Overton bowling the second set, and he too is arrowing in at the stumps for Moeen, right-arm over the wicket this time. Smeed gets a leading edge for a run from his second ball. Moeen finally gets a little room outside his off stump but misses his back-foot punch at the ball.

Two singles from ten balls.

7.59pm BST

5 balls: Birmingham Phoenix 0-1 (Smeed 0, Moeen 0) In at the thigh pad goes the left-armer Garton bowling to the left-handed Moeen Ali. Birmingham’s captain in the middle by the third ball of the match. Not a run to be found.

7.58pm BST

Garton dismissing Bedingham! Full and some width, Bedingham drives, thick edge to backward point. Tim David dropped a catch in the Eliminator yesterday which luckily didn’t cost his team. Tonight he’s taken a screamer diving to his right inches off the ground.

7.56pm BST

The chase begins... George Garton bowling to David Bedingham.

7.46pm BST

That’s a big score from Southern Brave. They didn’t explode out of the blocks, and de Kock was out early, but Stirling started hitting sixes on a steady basis, then upgraded that to a frequent basis. He put some urgency into the innings with his 61 from 36 balls, Alex Davies did a good steady job with 27 from 20, Tim David gave a quick nitro boost with 15 from 6, then Ross Whiteley took it home with 44 from 19. He was seriously good: 4 and 4 for each type of boundary, while Stirling hit six sixes and only two fours.

7.42pm BST

100 balls: 168-5 (Whiteley 44, Jordan 5) Whiteley just waited for Milne to go away. Then whacks the first ball from Pennington over long off for six. An attractive drive, followed by an ugly hack off an inside edge that beats his leg stump and hit the fence at fine leg.

Third ball, flicked off his pads for six. Clean, economical, it’s like a rental VW Golf. Looks better though, and goes faster.

7.37pm BST

95 balls: 150-5 (Whiteley 27, Jordan 5) Chris Jordan can bat, and he takes a couple of twos from Milne, hitting down the ground, keeping it simple. Milne finishes off with a wide slower ball yorker, unhittable. He’s got 2 for 8 from his full allotment of bowling.

7.35pm BST

Milne gets his captain the breakthrough. Moeen brings him back earlier than planned to stop the damage, and he does it first ball. Davies tries a little back-cut to rotate strike, sensible stuff against the premier fast bowler, but the pace and bounce is too much. Top edge to short third, for such a routine catch than even Imran Tahir can only muster a couple of fist pumps and roars.

7.34pm BST

90 balls: 145-4 (Davies 27, Whiteley 27) Brown gets the ball next, and told to make up for his mistake. It doesn’t work.

Six down the ground as Whiteley lofts. Four more dead straight, along the turf. Turns over the strike, then Davies scoops six more. Looking like a right-handed Eoin Morgan. 18 runs from five balls.

7.30pm BST

85 balls: 119-4 (Davies 20, Whiteley 16) He’s chipped the goalkeeper from centre back! Benny Howell has bowled four good balls: single, dot, leg bye, dot. From his fifth, Whiteley goes over the leg side. Brown has come in a few paces with the bowler. The ball hangs in the air as he backpedals, then clears his desperate dive back and lands on the rope.

7.25pm BST

80 balls: 119-4 (Davies 19, Whiteley 10) Nice from Whiteley, inside out over cover from the left-hander against Livingstone’s darts. Livingstone goes even more directly at leg stump from around the wicket, but Whiteley is equal to that and plonks it away through midwicket. Four more.

7.23pm BST

75 balls: 110-4 (Davies 19, Whiteley 1) Moeen Ali brings himself on, and he absolutely burgles an over with his off-breaks. Five runs from it.

7.21pm BST

70 balls: 103-4 (Davies 15) Liam Livingstone to bowl some spin, and he buys a wicket. Hasn’t taken note of the previous over, which tells you: don’t bowl short to Tim David. He does, and David smacks him over midwicket for six more. But Livingstone learns now, and bowls his last ball wide of the off stump. David goes for it, a high outside edge that lands with backward point.

15 off 6 is a pretty acceptable innings in The Hundred.

7.16pm BST

65 balls: 94-3 (Davies 13, David 8) Tim David, the man with two first names, is next up. Doesn’t wait around. Single off his first ball. Sees length for his second, and pulls it for six! Stirling would be proud.

Just saw some forensics on the Stirling dismissal, and Benny got him with the knuckleball. That’s why it seemed so slow and floaty. Because it was.

7.14pm BST

Benny cools his jets! Bowls wide, a bit dobbly, a bit slow. Stirling has a swish, as you’d expect. Benjamin is keeping up to the stumps, and there’s a scratch of the toe of the bat, or an under edge, that he hangs onto. Stirling goes, but he’s put his team in a great position.

7.11pm BST

60 balls: 85-2 (Stirling 61, Davies 12) Tahir will carry through to bowl his full ten. If that was a pre-game plan, perhaps it should have been reconsidered, because Stirling just does the same thing again. That uncomplicated pick-up across the line for his sixth six.

7.10pm BST

55 balls: 75-2 (Stirling 53, Davies 10) They’re rare in this format, but Stirling picks up Tahir and whacks him over deep midwicket for six more, and raises his milestone.

7.06pm BST

50 balls: 65-2 (Stirling 45, Davies 8) Brown bowls the slow one again, Stirling waits for it this time and dabs a run. Davies gives him the strike back, and Brown can’t bowl the width to Stirling that he’s got away with to Davies. Slashes through the cut shot and it’s four just behind point.

Next ball, same again, four more! They’ve got a deep cover point out there, and on neither occasion has he been able to make up the 10 paces or so to his left to stop the ball. Stirling follows it up with a checked drive, smartly places between that deep point and long off, meaning he can get back for two.

7.03pm BST

45 balls: 54-2 (Stirling 35, Davies 7) Stirling hasn’t hit a six in about ten minutes, he must be feeling faint.

No wait. There he goes. Length from Benny Howell, flat-batted over the leg side by Stirling. Simple execution. Then he drives to cover, making Moeen Ali dive to keep the scoring to one.

7.01pm BST

40 balls: 45-2 (Stirling 27, Davies 6) Patrick Brown to bowl, right-arm in the low 80s mph. Dries up Davies outside the off stump with a couple, then waters him with a leg-stump half volley to be clipped for four. Drops short and wide again and is rescued by deep point. Mixes in the slower ball, down to 65 mph, and Stirling toes it to cover for one.

6.57pm BST

35 balls: 38-2 (Stirling 25, Davies 1) Another good shot from Stirling, opening the face and driving over extra cover, but long off is set very wide and gets across to keep the scoring to two.

6.56pm BST

Tahir is off! He’s off and running, as he always does. Out the Grace gate and down the street to catch a bus. Nearly gets Stirling first ball of the over, lumped to deep midwicket on the bounce, then gets Vince with the next. Lovely bowling, looped up but pitching full, beating the sweep, and I think that was the googly, turning back onto middle stump from the line of off.

6.53pm BST

30 balls: 34-1 (Stirling 22, Vince 4) Benny Howell on to bowl his variations, and Stirling says “You’re not Adam Milne.” First ball, six. Goes for the blockhole but hits the half volley. Stirling plays a golf shot into the stand at deep mid. A couple of singles follow, then good fielding again denies Stirling, this time at backward point. He goes that way again with a delicate little dab for one, so out of keeping with his usual style. That’s like seeing Shrek do needlepoint. Lovely.

6.50pm BST

25 balls: 25-1 (Stirling 14, Vince 3) Stirling can’t lay bat on Milne, though. Another short ball that races through the Irishman, past his ribcage as he steps across. Milne notices the dancing feet and fires in the next ball at the base of middle, and Stirling has to revert to defence. Then slices a drive to cover point and it gets stopped. That’s three runs from 15 balls for Milne, he’s sparkling. The fielding restrictions come to an end.

6.47pm BST

20 balls: 24-1 (Stirling 14, Vince 2) Imran Tahir, into the action in the Powerplay. That doesn’t scare this leg-spinner. He bowled the very first over of the 2019 World Cup, and got Jonny Bairstow out at The Oval. Doesn’t mind having the field up. He’s fizzing down his top-spinners as he always does, one into the pad of Vince, another that nearly sneaks under Stirling’s diagonal bat across the line. Three runs from the first four balls, but Stirling will not be held. The fifth, he clears his front leg and plays the one-knee slog sweep over long on. Because he’s Paul Stirling.

6.43pm BST

15 balls: 15-1 (Stirling 7, Vince 0) Up into the 90s for miles per hour at times is Milne. Going between about 89 and 93 so far. Vince hangs his bat out, nothing, then aims a big drive, nothing. Moeen Ali has a slip in place, in case of the classic Vince edge. But no.

Milne, two runs from 10 balls.

6.42pm BST

Tries the scoop shot again... to a bouncer. That’s ambition. Short and sharp from Milne, not head height but up around the sternum, and Quinton is already getting set for the scoop, bringing his bat around to face forward. Decides to go through with the shot and hope for the best, rather than bailing and risking a dot ball, and it only goes high to short fine leg.

6.39pm BST

10 balls: 15-0 (de Kock 7, Stirling 7) First ball from Pennington, sensational by de Kock! Steps across outside his off stump, the left-hander, and scoops the ball over fine leg for six. Into the rope on the full. He was on the move as he played that, terrific hand-eye. Gets a leg bye to get Stirling onto strike, and there is six more. Stirling leans back, the ball is only marginally back of a length, but he tee-balls it into the Mound Stand up by the digital scoreboard.

6.35pm BST

5 balls: 2-0 (de Kock 1, Stirling 1) Second ball dug off the pads by de Kock for one, bringing the Grand Old Man of Ireland onto strike: Paul Stirling. Played for years here at Lord’s for Middlesex. He aims a big back-foot cover drive at Milne, ambitious first ball, and misses. Steps across into a short ball and gloves it away square for one, missing a pull. Sharp bumper. QDK gets squared up for a fat outside edge that goes quickly along the ground to point. Very fast opening salvo from Milne.

6.32pm BST

NZ fast bowler Adam Milne to start things off to South African keeper Quinton de Kock.

6.28pm BST

Southern Brave
Paul Stirling
Quinton de Kock +
James Vince *
Alex Davies
Ross Whiteley
Tim David
George Garton
Chris Jordan
Craig Overton
Tymal Mills
Jake Lintott

Birmingham Phoenix
David Bedingham
Will Smeed
Liam Livingstone
Moeen Ali *
Miles Hammond
Chris Benjamin +
Benny Howell
Adam Milne
Dillon Pennington
Patrick Brown
Imran Tahir

6.26pm BST

Southern Brave will be batting first in the men’s final.

5.48pm BST

About 45 minutes until the men’s game, when the Southern Brave men’s team will try to get something back out of today.

5.47pm BST

The Oval Invincibles get up on the podium and are handed the trophy. It’s not the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen (picture a giant gold-plated letter H if you’ve not seen it) but van Niekerk is just about overcome when she gives her winning speech. Now they get to bask in the afterglow.

5.46pm BST

Let us take a moment to celebrate Marizanne Kapp. Known for her bowling, but did it all.

In the Eliminator, she top scored with 37 at a run a ball to get them a score, then took 3 for 21 to defend it. All of those wickets were in the top four.

5.37pm BST

The team in mint green have stayed fresh. This wasn’t just about today, it was yesterday as well. In the Eliminator, they batted poorly and looked well below par with 114 on the board. But they defended those runs with ferocity, with the ball and in the field. Scrapped their way through to this final.

And today, did it again. But better. A slightly higher score, 126. And more of a surge with the ball, a devastating start that really left the Brave no chance to come back. The Brave had been so good through the league stage, winning 7 out of 8 games. But in the sudden-death stage, when it mattered most, they fell apart. Three ducks at the top of the order. Another in the top seven, along with scores of 7 and 1. Only Stafanie Taylor out of those seven made double figures, 18 today. She’s been the only one standing among too many frail batting performances in her career with West Indies.

5.36pm BST

98 balls: Southern Brave 73 all out (Rudd 7) Kapp bowls full, looking for the stumps, but Lauren Bell makes room and digs out the ball with a scything shot through cover for four. Kapp comes back and bounces her! At the body, through the batter’s tangle of flailing limbs trying to pull out of the way. And of course, Kapp comes back with a perfect yorker on leg stump.

Bowled!

5.33pm BST

95 balls: Southern Brave 69-9 (Rudd 7, Bell 0) Rudd bangs a couple of shots into the deep, because why not, before Bell sees out the last couple of balls for Farrant. No wickets for Tash today, but 12 runs from 20 balls is a good day’s work. Marizanne Kapp will bowl the last five balls.

5.30pm BST

90 balls: Southern Brave 64-9 (Rudd 2, Bell 0) Ten balls to go, the last pair at the crease.

5.30pm BST

A curious run out. Carla Rudd hits the ball nicely, straight. Gibbs down the ground throws flat and straight to the stumps. Dane van Niekerk takes the ball in one hand and immediately bangs her arm back into the stumps. Morris has her bat over the line, but it bounced just before the line and hasn’t got back down in time. So if she had grounded it behind the line and it bounced, she would be ok, but having bounced it before the line, she’s out.

5.26pm BST

85 balls: Southern Brave 62-8 (Morris 23) Capsey with the ball, really just doing the formalities at this point. She’s still invested enough to worry about her field settings. Morris is fired up enough to walk down and drive crisply through the covers for four. The bottom hand takes over next ball and she drags it to long on for one. Norris tries the reverse sweep from the fifth ball, but it’s too full: it hasn’t quite pitched by the time it reaches the bat, and she doesn’t get forward to it, she stands in her crease to play the shot. Under the bat, into off stump.

5.22pm BST

80 balls: Southern Brave 56-7 (Morris 18, Norris 10) No slip for her own bowling, van Niekerk, so she doesn’t get the reward when she gets a wrong ‘un to turn away from the left-handed Norris, taking an outside edge for two. Norris, easing into her work, steps down and drives straight, not hitting too hard, over the bowler for four. Then goes back and pulls to long on, a top edge that doesn’t carry for a catch. 66 off 20 balls needed.

5.19pm BST

75 balls: Southern Brave 48-7 (Morris 17, Norris 3) A few singles from Farrant’s over, but it’s not a day for the Brave. Even when Farrant bowls a high full toss, Morris has already shaped for the reverse, and thus can’t get any power on it. In her normal stance that could have gone over the square leg fence.

5.16pm BST

70 balls: Southern Brave 45-7 (Morris 16, Norris 1) Ismail to bowl her last five, and she scones Tara Norris! That ball is 75 miles per hour, quicker than women players face almost anywhere, and it’s dug in short from around the wicket to the left-hander. She tries to pull but it’s through her, hitting the side of the helmet and off for a leg bye. Fi Morris looks much happier on strike, stepping across and scooping over short fine for four. Good shot.

Ismail hits the pad next ball and goes up for a review, but that was missing leg stump, surely. DRS says it was. Maybe they figure it’ll break up the rhythm for Morris? Frankly she could blaze 50 more from 25 here and it wouldn’t change the result.

5.10pm BST

65 balls: Southern Brave 40-7 (Morris 12, Norris 1) Morris pulls out the reverse sweep. Nothing left to do but express yourself. Nicely done against Capsey, hit clean and along the ground for four. Then advances and drives four through cover! Even better. Opens the face enough to beat extra cover. Then the reverse again, but hits it too well: finds short third right on the edge of the paint and can’t get a run. Does from the last ball of the five.

5.08pm BST

60 balls: Southern Brave 31-7 (Morris 3, Norris 1) The rhyming sisters join forces for the Brave. A couple of singles result from van Niekerk.

5.06pm BST

The only one who has had the ability to hang in knows that she also has to hit out. Uses her feet against van Niekerk, who floats it towards leg stump. Taylor has to drag across the line. Might have made contact with a leg-break, but this is a googly. Turns back between bat and pad, and Bryce reads it well enough.

5.02pm BST

55 balls: Southern Brave 27-6 (Taylor 16, Morris 2) Gorgeous shot, as Taylor walks down to Capsey and threads her drive through cover point, splitting two fielders. Shot of the day, in fact. Then drives a single. With the support of... oh, three or four other players, Taylor might have given this target a shake. Morris goes back and swats a pull to deep midwicket, only one run.

5.01pm BST

50 balls: Southern Brave 21-6 (Taylor 11, Morris 1) Three near wickets in five balls for Dane van Niekerk. Hits Morris on the pad with a full toss but the umpire says it hit outside the line. Has Morris then driving to mid off, but Gardner drops her second catch for the day. “A duck’s beak!” is what Gardner shouts, for some reason. Dane looks mad. Then there’s nearly a run out, as Morris stutters down the wicket and has to go back after hitting the ball about three metres from the cut strip. She finally gets off the mark, with a pushed single from 11 balls.

4.58pm BST

45 balls: Southern Brave 19-6 (Taylor 10, Morris 0) Ismail looking as intense as ever, charging in and hitting a tough line just on the off stump. Morris does nothing but defend, after Taylor slices away a boundary behind point and takes a single. Just the 103 from 55 needed.

4.54pm BST

40 balls: Southern Brave 14-6 (Taylor 5, Morris 0) Capsey continues, sending her little floaters down the pitch, nearly pinching another wicket as Morris dinks one up near midwicket that falls short. No score from the five.

4.52pm BST

Right on cue! Gets some width, scoops a cover drive with a lot of bottom hand, and Kapp can do anything to day. Flies across to her right and takes a great catch. LOOK AT THIS SCORE.

4.51pm BST

35 balls: Southern Brave 14-5 (Taylor 5, Shrubsole 1) It’s far too much to expect Anya Shrubsole to rescue a match from here, but it’s also worth noting that she’s not a No7. A number of these teams lack batting depth.

4.49pm BST

30 balls: Southern Brave 11-5 (Taylor 3) That wicket from the last ball of Ismail’s over. Five wickets in less than 30 balls.

4.48pm BST

Five now, it’s subsiding like a wet souffle. Wellington is more of a basher than a long innings player, and she takes on Ismail’s length ball, trying to baseball it over the leg side. Gets poor contact and the catch sits up for midwicket in the circle.

4.45pm BST

Another onnnnne! Direct hit run out this time, the Ovals are rolling. Taylor guides the ball from Ismail behind point and maybe just runs on instinct, because it feels right off the bat. Because she hits it straight to Wilson, who is stationed quite close to the bat for that shot. Taylor has dropped and run, Bouchier answers the call immediately, and is still barely in the frame when the bails come off.

4.42pm BST

25 balls: Southern Brave 11-3 (Taylor 3, Bouchier 7) Kapp street’s back, alright. A couple of singles, a couple of beaten edges. She’s still getting the ball to swerve in the air, away from the right-hander. Ends the Powerplay with the competition leaders having just wheezed into double figures.

4.40pm BST

20 balls: Southern Brave 8-3 (Taylor 2, Bouchier 5) Inexplicably, van Niekerk hasn’t brought Kapp straight back. Surely you’d give her another over and try ti finish the game now? Well, Farrant nearly does the same: has Bouchier mistiming in the air to cover, but Gardner spills the catch lunging forward.

4.37pm BST

15 balls: Southern Brave 7-3 (Taylor 2, Bouchier 4) South African to South African, Ismail up next. Starts well but gives away the first boundary of the day, short and wide and slashed over backward point by Bouchier. The Brave have more runs than they’ve lost wickets now, big milestone.

4.35pm BST

10 balls: Southern Brave 2-3 (Taylor 1, Bouchier 0) Extraordinary from Kapp. She has for so long been the standard bearer for economical bowling in the Big Bash, generally going at around 4 an over in T20 cricket. Here, she has taken 3 wickets for 2 runs off 10 balls to start a final.

4.34pm BST

Stafanie Taylor to the middle within six balls. First runs for the team off the bat are scored by the No4. Just taps Kapp to deep square leg for one. Which brings Lewis on strike, who opened the batting, and she won’t score either. Tries to pull a ball on the line of her legs, not really short enough, bit cramped. Top edge that flies fine. Capsey at short fine leg motors back towards the rope and claims it. The top three are all out: 0, 0, 0.

4.29pm BST

Put that down to brilliant captaincy! You won’t often see a slip in the Hundred, let alone two slips. But DVN puts herself in just that spot. Width from Kapp, Dunkley drives at it hard, and the thick edge flies head high to second slip.

4.28pm BST

5 balls: Southern Brave 1-1 (Lewis 0, Dunkley 0) Only a wide from the first five. Kapp will keep going and bowl ten on the trot.

4.27pm BST

Early strike! Wyatt does as Wyatt does, charging a couple of times, looking to blaze pace over the infield in the off side. But Kapp knows what Wyatt does, and keeps the ball wide of her, and finding some swing away. After three fresh air shots, Kapp takes the edge of the bat.

4.25pm BST

About to start...

4.13pm BST

“Hello Geoffers,” writes Andrew Benton on the email, using a strange English nomenclatural custom. “I think you might find that 百球 (a hundred balls, which relates it more to the game than does 百元, which means a hundred of anything) would be a better translation into Chinese. Or even perhaps 百球板球比赛 for a not so marketing-friendly name (hundred balls cricket match). Pronunced ‘Bye chyew ban chyew bee sigh’, it rather trips off the tongue.”

I would not be flocking to see the Hundred Balls Cricket Match personally, although... who am I kidding, I would watch it.

4.11pm BST

A great second half by the Invincibles, who were pootling along at a run a ball until midway through their work, but Kapp got them going, Capsey went with her, and Villiers finished it off. Bell took 2 for 24, Shrubsole 2 for 16, Wellington 1 for 24 and Morris 1 for 30.

4.10pm BST

100 balls: Oval Invincibles 121-6 (Gardner 2) Shrubsole to bowl her final five deliveries, and the last five of the innings. Villiers flicks her through midwicket, mistiming it but the mistiming gets them back for two. Then drives to cover, where there’s a misfield. They think about turning for the second, which makes the fielder throw it in hard at the keeper’s feet. The keeper then fumbles it, and they do start for a second run. Midwicket would probably have run someone out off the ricochet, but fumbles sliding in to pick up! Three misfields in one play, that’s special.

Villiers backs away and nails a lofted square drive next, but the sweeper keeps them to one. Gardner gives the strike back, letting Villiers go large over the leg side. But someone’s there. Bouchier finally wraps her hands around one. Runs saved from the last ball.

4.06pm BST

95 balls: Oval Invincibles 115-5 (Villiers 8, Gardner 1) Best option for Gardner, get off strike. Does so to finish the Morris over. One to come.

4.04pm BST

Did you remember that Kapp was out there? It’s been the Villiers show for a minute. Kapp takes back the spotlight with a strong straight hit down the ground for four, but gets a high outside edge swining at her next ball. Wellington at point waits under it.

4.02pm BST

90 balls: Oval Invincibles 106-4 (Kapp 18, Villiers 8) Mady Villiers nearly puts Bell on a hat-trick, reaching for a length ball and edging it just by the keeper on the bounce. Keeper standing back. Four lucky runs. Then four deserved ones, as Villiers latches onto a short ball and splits the two outfielders deep on the leg side. Then almost gets caught at mid off, but Lewis diving forward takes it on the short half volley.

3.59pm BST

Her luck runs out this time. Slower ball again, lots of work on it from Bell. Digs it into the pitch. Capsey has charged once more, but the short length means she’s too far away from it to do anything but swipe across the line. The grip in the surface kills the ball’s velocity, getting it beneath the bat, and it’s actually on the way downward by the time it hits the top of middle stump.

3.57pm BST

85 balls: Oval Invincibles 98-3 (Kapp 18, Capsey 18) Another fingertipper for Bouchier, but this time she did all she could. Capsey skips down to Wellington and mistimes a lofted drive straight. Bouchier comes flying across from mid off and dives sideways but can’t quite. Then nearly a run out as Capsey charges and drives straight to Taylor at cover, but Taylor’s throw misses. So Capsey rides her luck, one more skip, and bangs a drive wide of long on. Ten from the over.

3.54pm BST

80 balls: Oval Invincibles 88-3 (Kapp 17, Capsey 9) Kapp keeps the good running going, back for a second after sweeping Stafanie Taylor fine. It’s raining again out there, but the umpires are laughing, and probably relieved they’re allowed to stay on in short-form cricket like this. Around the wicket, Taylor, angled across Kapp, but she slog-sweeps anyway for four! Good shot, straightish, just wide of the long on fielder. Kapp has boosted the rate.

3.51pm BST

75 balls: Oval Invincibles 80-3 (Kapp 10, Capsey 7) Morris bowling her off breaks around the wicket, in at the heels of Kapp. Which works when it works, but when she errs outside that line Kapp sweeps four. A couple of twos in the over, as well, we haven’t seen many of those. Ten runs in total, the best five balls of the day.

3.48pm BST

70 balls: Oval Invincibles 70-3 (Kapp 3, Capsey 5) Bell bowling a selection of slower balls, one of which brings her the wicket, others concede no score, but her final one slips out of the hand and hovers in the air, and Capsey has time to line it up and smack it back past the bowler for four.

3.46pm BST

A return to seam brings the wicket. DVN is falling away to the leg side, premeditating hitting in that direction, then gets a different line and tries to power a drive over mid off. No balance means no power, and it just loops up to the infield. Only four fielders allowed out in the women’s game.

3.43pm BST

65 balls: Oval Invincibles 64-2 (van Niekerk 25, Kapp 1) The South African pair at the crease, then. Singles and nothing more against Wellington, who concedes three runs and takes a wicket in those last five balls.

3.41pm BST

The three Ws. That’s the danger of Wellington. Her flight draws Wilson into a big slog sweep, her dip has it drop in front of the bat, and the shot is top-edgy out to deep mid. Wyatt is waiting, and the trap snaps shut.

3.40pm BST

60 balls: Oval Invincibles 61-1 (van Niekerk 25, Wilson 25) Staf Taylor keeps the pressure up, four runs from her over as she bowls with flight outside off.

3.37pm BST

55 balls: Oval Invincibles 57-1 (van Niekerk 24, Wilson 23) Norris and Morris the bowling pair. Fi Morris sends down her spin to good effect: concedes four off the first ball to Wilson’s reverse sweep, but comes back to concede only one more run in the set. Almost yorks van Niekerk with the last ball, eliciting a forward defensive, more than halfway through a Hundred innings. Special.

3.35pm BST

50 balls: Oval Invincibles 52-1 (van Niekerk 24, Wilson 18) Rain falling as Tara Norris comes on with her left-arm pace, and Wilson is dropped. That’s a shocker really. Norris bowls a wide when the ball slips out of her hand, then comes back with a better short ball. Wilson pulls off the top edge to deep backward. Straight to Dunkley. She has time to go down onto her knees waiting for the ball, and it often isn’t a good sign when players do that. And true to form, the catch pops straight out. Wilson follows up by flaying four through backward point.

3.31pm BST

45 balls: Oval Invincibles 45-1 (van Niekerk 19, Wilson 17) Wellington’s dip is making her hard to hit. Even when she bowls a full toss to van Niekerk, it drops sharply enough that she can only hit it to deep mid for a single. The dip nearly brings Wellington a wicket too, Wilson charging to hit straight down the ground, then ending up having to scoop out a ball that drops short of her. Just, just chips it over mid off for a dodgy run. The Oval team just going at a run a ball.

3.28pm BST

40 balls: Oval Invincibles 40-1 (van Niekerk 17, Wilson 14) Stafanie Taylor, the West Indies skipper, with her off-breaks. Wilson sweeps a run, van Niekerk flat-bats a couple over cover. Bad misfield by Bell at mid off as DVN hits it straight at her and gives away a single.

3.23pm BST

35 balls: Oval Invincibles 34-1 (van Niekerk 14, Wilson 12) Morris on for double spin. DVN keeps hitting the outfielders, but Wilson finds a gap at backward point with a deliberately sliced drive for four. She’s very clever with placement.

3.21pm BST

30 balls: Oval Invincibles 27-1 (van Niekerk 12, Wilson 7) Fielding restrictions done, Amanda Wellington comes on to bowl her leg-spin. Lots of loop, making them wait. Dots and ones from four of the deliveries, but Wilson gets her sweep away along the ground behind square for four.

3.19pm BST

25 balls: Oval Invincibles 21-1 (van Niekerk 11, Wilson 2) Nearly three wickets in five balls there. First, van Niekerk just drags Shrubsole over mid off. One run. Wilson swings and misses and nearly loses her stumps. Then pulls off a top edge to fine leg. Should have been caught but Bouchier doesn’t lunge forward far enough, and fingertips it into the ground.

3.13pm BST

20 balls: Oval Invincibles 16-1 (van Niekerk 9, Wilson 1) That’s better from van Niekerk. Takes guard well down the track to Bell, then drives on the up. Lofted deliberately, over mid off. A couple of balls later, similar but a touch squarer, more like extra cover, and hit a bit flatter into the gap. Dances down after a wide and squirts a thick inside edge through square leg, aiming another off-side drive.

3.11pm BST

15 balls: Oval Invincibles 6-1 (van Niekerk 0, Wilson 1) Shrubsole doesn’t let the pressure up. Beats Wilson on the outside edge a couple of times, and only gives away a single. Real struggles for the Oval so far.

3.08pm BST

Bring me a Shrubbery! Inswing from Shrubsole towards the pads. Adams tries to go high over long on but gets skewed contact on the ball, high towards deep midwicket instead. Danni Wyatt waits under the steepler and makes it safe.

3.06pm BST

10 balls: Oval Invincibles 5-0 (Adams 5, van Niekerk 0) Bell will bowl the second five. Back of a length and beating Dane van Niekerk, once, twice. DVN nails a cover drive when the length pitches up, but Shrubsole in the covers saves it. Then van Niekerk charges and gets too far leg side to get any power on a low full toss wide of her off stump. Smokes her fifth ball and it’s saved at point! Again good power in the shot, but snared. Five dots to start a day, not what you want in a game this short.

3.03pm BST

5 balls: Oval Invincibles 5-0 (Adams 5, van Niekerk 0) Shrubsole starts with the ball, beating the edge a couple of times with her outswing. Eventually Adams charges and swats through midwicket for four. Not much culture in the shot but it gets the result. A ley bye to follow.

3.02pm BST

Anya Shrubsole leads her team onto the ground. Won a World Cup final here for England in 2017, so she’ll have good memories. Fireworks go off and wreathe the ground with smoke.

2.58pm BST

Oval Invincibles Women
Georgia Adams
Dane van Niekerk *
Fran Wilson
Marizanne Kapp
Alice Capsey
Mady Villiers
Joanne Gardner
Grace Gibbs
Sarah Bryce
Natasha Farrant
Shabnim Ismail

Southern Brave
Gaby Lewis
Danielle Wyatt
Sophia Dunkley
Stafanie Taylor
Maia Bouchier
Amanda Wellington
Anya Shrubsole *
Fi Morris
Tara Norris
Carla Rudd +
Lauren Bell

2.57pm BST

Chasing, almost always the preference. Some tiny hints of rain around, but hopefully they push on regardless. Don’t think we need to be too precious about the state of a ball that will be used for 16.4 regular overs.

2.30pm BST

If I get time during five-ball overs, I’d love to read your emails and tweets. Go on then. Contact details are up top or on the side.

2.30pm BST

The Hundred. El Cien. 百元. Setka. शंभर. Famed throughout lands. Whatever you call it, it comes to a head here today, at Lord’s.

Or tomorrow, if it’s raining.

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Published on August 21, 2021 13:28