Day 10: Paralympic Games preview

With two days to go for the end of the Paralympic Games, 55 gold medals will be contested on the 10th day of competitions on September 3.

Local swimming star Keiichi Kimura has good chances of winning the men’s 100m butterfly S11, the last individual event of the Games. (Photo: Getty Images)
Local swimming star Keiichi Kimura has good chances of winning the men’s 100m butterfly S11, the last individual event of the Games. (Photo: Getty Images)

Preliminary league matches will be held in boccia, para badminton and some taekwondo divisions. Swimming and archery programme will come to an end.

ARCHERY

Timing: 10:00 - 13:45 JST and 17:30 - 21:21 JST

The Men’s Individual Recurve Open will reach its culmination on what will be the penultimate day of competitions in archery.

Watch out for Suresh Selvathamby. The Malaysian made his World Championships debut in ’s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands in 2019 while ranked 35 in the world and left the competition with a gold medal in the men’s recurve open and the world No.1 ranking.

ATHLETICS

Timing: 9:30 - 12:51 JST and 19:00 - 21:40 JST

There will be 17 finals at the National Olympic Stadium, eight in the morning and nine in the afternoon.

The competition will start with the women’s shot put F12. Italy’s Assunta Legnante is one of the favourites for the gold medal alongside Uzbekistan’s Safiya Burkhanova. Legnante, famous for her eye masks, is the back-to-back Paralympic champion and a three-time world champion.

In the women’s long jump T47, New Zealand’s Anna Grimaldi will be defending her Paralympic title from Rio 2016. She won silver at the Dubai 2019 Worlds and set the best result of the year in February at a competition in New Zealand.

In the Men’s javelin throw F54, the defending Paralympic champion Manolis Stefanoudakis will go up against the reigning world champion Hamed Amiri from Iran.

The leading shot putter in the F54 class in 2021 is the USA’s Justin Phongsavanh. He set the result at the US National Trials in Minneapolis in June.

The men’s 1500m T20 will be the first track final on day eight. World record holder Michael Brannigan from the USA will compete as the reigning Paralympic champion and a world champion from London 2017.

In the women’s 1500m T20, Poland’s Barbara Bieganowska-Zajac was the main favourite to top the podium until June when she lost the European Championships gold on home soil to Ukraine’s Liudmyla Danylina. The two will be in action in Tokyo with Bieganowska-Zajac targeting a third consecutive Paralympic gold.

Brazil’s Joao Victor Teixeira is the reigning world champion in the men’s discus throw F37 and will be keen to take the Paralympic medal that he missed at the homes Games in Rio five years ago.

Hosts Japan will be hoping for gold in the men’s high jump T64. Toru Suzuki is the world record holder and the second-best jumper this year. He took bronze at the Dubai 2019 Worlds.

The last medal event of the morning session will the men’s 100m T52. USA’s Gianfranco Iannotta and Raymond Martin will fight for medals against Japanese sprinters Yuki Oya and Tatsuya Ito.

The evening session will begin with the women’s long jump T20.

The women's club throw F51 will have Ukraine’s Zoia Ovsii as the star of the event as the back-to-back world champion and world record holder.

The men’s shot put F57 is next on the schedule with Brazil’s Thiago Paulino Dos Santos in the spotlight.

The women’s 100m T64 will be one of the highlights of the day. Fleur Jong from the Netherlands is the reigning European champion and set a new world record in Bydgoszcz in the T62 class.

In the javelin F46, New Zealand’s Holly Robinson is the world record holder and the best javelin thrower in 2021. She won the silver medal at the Rio 2016 Paralympics.

Next up will be the men’s 200m T61 with Germany’s Ali Lacin as the second-fastest man this year and the first favourite for gold.

The last individual final of the day will be the men’s 100m T51. Peter Genyn from Belgium and Toni Piispanen from Finland are expected to battle for the gold medal.

The 4 x 100m universal relay will be the last final of the day. The competition makes its Paralympic debut and it was part of the World Championships for the first time in Dubai 2019.

BADMINTON

Timing: 9:00 - 21:00 JST

Preliminary group stage matches will continue in all categories throughout the day.

Watch out for Liu Yutong, the 15-year-old when she rose to world No. 1 in the women’s singles WH2. She beat compatriot Li Hongyan 21-12, 21-11 in the 2019 Worlds final, as well as claiming gold in the women’s doubles alongside Menglu Yin.

BOCCIA

Timing: 9:30 - 1:55 JST and 14:25 - 19:35 JST

Preliminary round matches will continue in Team and Pairs sections in BC1-C2, BC3, and BC4 sections. Brazil, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Great Britain are in contention for the knockout stages.

CANOE SPIRINT

Timing: 9:30 - 12:25 JST

Semifinal rounds involving all those that had finished second to fourth in their heats will be conducted leading to finals. Four gold medals will be decided on Friday.

CYCLING ROAD

Timing: 9:30 - 13:18 JST

Four finals will be held at the Fuji International Speedway. Watch out for China’s Qian Wangwei in Women’s C1-3 Road Race. She has already won a bronze in Tokyo in the women's 500 metres time trial C1–3 event and will be hoping to add a gold to her tally.

GOALBALL

Timing: Matches at 13:15, 15:00, 17:45 and 19:30 JST

Both the men’s and women’s finals will be played on the same day with the United States taking on Turkey in the women’s final and Brazil meeting China in the Men’s final. Turkey is the reigning women’s gold medallist while the United States was had won bronze in Rio 2016. The US will be hoping to upstage Turkey in the final.

SHOOTING

Timing: 9:30 - 15:15 JST

Two finals will be held -- men’s and women’s 50m Rifle 3-position -- with the qualification rounds in the morning.

SITTING VOLLEYBALL

Timing: Matches at 13:30, 15:30, 18:30 and 20:20 JST

Two semifinals in the women’s section will be held with the United States, China, and Brazil, the three medallists in this order in 2016, are back in the fray with China and Brazil hoping to improve their medals.

SWIMMING

Timing: 9:00 - 11:04 JST and 17:00 - 20:03 JST

The curtain will come down on swimming competitions at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre with 16 finals closing the programme.

The finals with the men’s 200m individual medley SM10 with Ukraine’s Maksym Krypak again the favourite for gold in his class as the reigning world and European champion. He set the season-best result at the Madeira 2020 European Championships in May.

The women’s 200m individual medley SM10 final is a completely different story. Dutch duo Lisa Kruger and Chantalle Zijderveld have been swapping podium places in major championships.

Next up will be the men’s 100m backstrokes S6 final with Croatia’s Dino Sinovcic, the reigning world champion from London in 2019 and a silver medallist from Madeira in May this year, as the top contender.

In the women’s 100m backstroke S6 final, China’s Lingling Song is the defending Paralympic champion and the world record holder.

Greece’s Dimosthenis Michalentzakis is the favourite for gold in the men’s 100m butterfly S8. He is the reigning world champion and back-to-back European champion.

The women’s 100m butterfly S8 will be the last event for USA's Jessica Long in Tokyo. She is a two-time Paralympic champion from Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012.

The men’s 50m butterfly S7 will put USA's London 2019 world champion Evan Austin head to head with Ukraine's Andrii Trusov, the European champion and fastest swimmer so far this year. Austin is second in the ranking. Colombia’s Carlos Serrano is the third on the 2021 list.

USA’s Mallory Weggemann has shown the best run of form in the women’s 50m butterfly S7 recently. She is the world record holder and the reigning world champion from London 2019.

Czech Republic’s Arnost Petracek has high hopes for the men’s 50m backstroke S4. He is the defending Paralympic champion, two-time European titleholder, and world champion from the Mexico City 2017 Worlds.

The women’s 50m backstroke S4 is most likely going to be a duel between Alexandra Stamatopoulou from Greece and Ukraine’s Maryna Verbova. Stamatopoulou is the reigning back-to-back European champion and the second-fastest woman in the event this year.

The men’s 100m butterfly S12 will be up next and it will be hard to appoint a favourite to gold with so many strong candidates. Great Britain’s Stephen Clegg is the world record holder and the fastest man in 2021.

In the women’s 100m freestyle S11, Dutch Para swimmer Liesette Bruinsma is the world record holder and the fastest in the race at the moment. Her impressive CV includes gold medals at the Dublin 2018 European and the London 2019 Worlds, alongside her Rio 2016 Paralympic bronze. China’s Guizhi Li was silver in Rio de Janeiro and grabbed a bronze at London 2019.

The last freestyle race at Tokyo 2020 will be the men’s 200m in the S3 class. Ukraine’s Denys Ostapchenko is the fastest man this year and the reigning European champion from Madeira in May. He has a silver medal from the London 2019 World Championships.

Italy’s Monica Boggioni tops the ranking in the women’s 200m individual medley SM5. She set her best time in July at a competition in Naples. Japan’s Maori Yui has the second-best result this season while Natalia Shavel from Belarus is third.

The last individual event at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games will be the men’s 100m butterfly S11. The home crowd will be cheering for Keiichi Kimura and Uchi Tomita, the two fastest Para swimmers in the event this year.

The men's 4x100m medley relay 34 pts will close the Para-swimming programme at Tokyo 2020. Team Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC) is the favourite for gold as the reigning world and European champion but China will be defending their Rio 2016 title.

TABLE TENNIS

Timing: 10:00 - 15:30 JST and 17:00 - 21:00 JST

Five finals will be held on the last day of table tennis action. The five-team competition finals with men’s and women’s Classes 9-10 and in Women’s Classes 4-5. China will figure in three of the five finals and should be the favourite to win all three. Australian teams figure in two finals and look favourite to win the Women’s Team Classes 9-10 final against Poland.

TAEKWONDO

Timing: 10:00 -15:00 JST and 17:00 -= 22:00 JST

Competitions will be held in women’s 58kg and men’s 75kg -- from Round of 16 to gold medal. Watch out for Egypt’s Abohegazy Salma. Since winning a silver medal in the 58kg K44 division at the 2019 African Open Para-Taekwondo Championship, the 18-year-old Salma has emerged as one of the most exciting up-and-coming fighters to keep your eye on in the coming years.

WHEELCHAIR BASKETBALL

Timing: Matches at 12:30, 15:00, 18:15 and 20:45 JST

The United States take on Spain in a repeat of the Rio 2016 final and hosts Japan meet 2016 bronze medallists Great Britain in the men’s semifinals. The USA is the four-time champion and are also the defending champions, having won the title in 2016 beating Spain 68-52.

WHEELCHAIR TENNIS

Timing: Matches start from 10:00 JST

The Women’s singles final and the men’s doubles gold are the main matches of the day. The women’s singles final has Dutch legend Diede de Groot, the top seed, taking on Japan’s second-seeded Yui Kamiji.

Due to rain, the quad singles bronze medal was also rescheduled for this Friday. The Dutch Niels Vink faces local athlete Koji Sugeno.

Paralympic.org