PARIS (AP) — On the sixth day of the Paris Paralympics, medals are up for grabs in seven sports on Tuesday.
Among the featured events is wheelchair fencing, where athletes duel with their wheelchairs securely fastened to the floor.
Medal opportunities also await in archery, athletics, equestrian, swimming, shooting, and table tennis.
Time for athletics stars Baka and Frech
On the fifth day of track and field at the Stade de France, Algeria’s Abdellatif Baka headlines the men’s T13 1,500 meters for those who are visually impaired.
Baka won the gold medal in Rio de Janeiro in 3:48.29, remarkably faster than the winning time of the able-bodied Olympic race, where American Matthew Centrowitz finished in 3:50.00.
Also, American Ezra Frech is a strong contender in the high jump final.
In July, Frech set a new world record in the T63 class, for athletes with leg amputations, with a jump of 1.97 meters.
Nantenin Keita, who carried the French flag at the opening ceremony, lines up in the women’s T13 100 for visually impaired athletes.
Equestrian starts in Versailles
Tuesday marks the start of equestrian at the Château de Versailles. Unlike the Olympic Games which feature three equestrian disciplines, the Paralympics focus only on dressage.
Britain’s Natasha Baker, who owns six Paralympic gold medals in equestrian since the 2012 London Games, returns to the competition after becoming a mother in 2023. She will compete in the grade III class reserved for athletes who have severe impairments in both legs with minimal or no trunk impairment.
Baker is considered a favorite after the defending champion, Tobias Joergensen of Denmark, retired from the competition.
Roxanne Trunnell of the U.S. aims to defend her grade I title with a new horse, Fan Tastico H.
Fencing debuts
Wheelchair fencing begins at the Grand Palais, where champions in the men’s and women’s sabre category A and B will be determined.
The sport mirrors its Olympic counterpart, with the key difference being that fencers are seated and use only the upper half of their bodies.
China dominates, having won 11 of the 16 gold medals in Tokyo.
Gu Haiyan, competing in women’s sabre category A, and Feng Yanke in men’s sabre category B, return as defending champions.
Table tennis showdown
A new Paralympic champion will be crowned in table tennis at South Paris Arena after top contenders Valentin Baus of Germany and Cao Ningning of China were eliminated in the quarterfinals.
Baus, who won the gold in Tokyo, was defeated by Ali Ozturk of Turkey 3-2, while Cao, the gold medalist in London and Brazil, fell to Cheng Ming Chih of Taiwan 3-1 in the men’s C5 class for wheelchair athletes who can move both their chairs and bodies during play.
___
AP Paralympics: https://apnews.com/hub/paralympic-games
