Tokyo Paralympics 2020 day eight: boccia gold for Smith, wheelchair basketball and more – live!

Table tennis: It keeps on coming: In the women’s classes 4-5, GB have just started their semi-final against China. More to come on that …

Wheelchair basketball: More success for ParalympicsGB as they beat Canada in the quarter-final! Final score: 66-52.

Incredible. Karabardak forces match point at 10-9, and grabs the game and the match! ParalympicsGB will face China in the final. Karabardak has never beaten Valera before, with a 12-0 record to the Spaniard.

No one beats him 13 times in a row, I guess …

Table tennis: It’s 6-6 in the decisive game. Get to a telly and put More 4 on because this is amazing stuff.

Karabardak, the commentator tells us, has never beaten Valera in 12 previous attempts.

And now it moves to 9-9 …

Table tennis: Valera proves his world No 1 status by dominating the fourth game. He wins it, 11-5, and this remarkable men’s semi-final match moves into a deciding game. Compelling stuff.

Now, Valera hands Karabardak a few cheap points at the start of the decider. GB lead 3-0, and Spain call a timeout.

Wheelchair basketball: GB have struck back against Canada in the men’s quarter-final, and lead 49-45 in the fourth quarter! Seven minutes remain.

Table tennis: The skill on show in this men’s semi-final singles match between Karabardak and Valera is astonishing. There have been rallies of 22 and 18 shots. It’s locked at 11-11 in third game, and 1-1 in games … and Karabardak takes the game and moves into the lead at 2-1! Valera, the commentator points out, is the world No 1 while GB’s Karabardak is ranked No 8.

Karabardak is a game away from victory in this singles match at 2-1 ahead. So one more game and ParalympicsGB will compete for the gold medal against China, who defeated Germany earlier today.

Goalball: Brazil have edged past China 1-0 in the women’s quarter-final, the winner coming from Ana Carolina Duarte Ruas Custodio.

The Paralympics site is telling me that the fourth quarter-final, between the United States and RPC, has been rescheduled. Turkey and Japan are the other sides to have made it into the semi-finals.

Table tennis: Paul Karabardak fights back to level at 1-1 in games against Álvaro Valera of Spain. This is for a chance to compete for gold in the final.

Wheelchair basketball: Canada lead GB 32-26 in the third quarter of the men’s quarter-final match.

Table tennis: Will Bailey of ParalympicsGB has done the necessary and won his singles match – now it’s the turn of Paul Karabardak, who faces Valera of Spain.

Boccia: Channel 4 are now showing the medal ceremony for ParalympicsGB’s David Smith, who hit back from 2-0 down in the gold medal match to take gold, and now some quotes from the man himself:

“I think it’s massively important [the exposure for Boccia on live TV] … we’ve had sellout crowds but no live [coverage] … my Twitter and Instagram have been buzzing. We’ve seen some quality matches this week, not just from myself … I hope this inspires people to give it a go. It’s quite a cool game, it can be very intense … it’s great, I’ve loved the tournament, Tokyo has been amazing, the volunteers have been amazing, and it’s the best venue I’ve ever played Boccia on. Buzzing to get back on The Last Leg again, hint hint …”

Chew Wei Lun (China) took silver and Jose Carlos Chagas de Oliveira (Brazil) won bronze. Well done to all.

In pictures: Some of the best photos from day eight of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. Some brilliant shots in there, including this one of China’s Zhu Dening:

Men’s wheelchair basketball: In the final minute of the second quarter of this quarter-final, Canada have forged a four-point lead against GB, they are 30-26 up.

Archery: Celebratory chocolate cake is on the menu today for Victoria Rumary, who took a bronze medal for ParalympicsGB earlier, in the women’s individual W1 class. Rumary defeated Lia Coryell of the USA, 131-123, bouncing back from a 127-107 defeat by Sarka Musilova of Czech Republic. Chen Minyi of China triumphed against Musilova in the gold medal match, 142-131.

Men’s wheelchair basketball: GB are taking on Canada, and they are locked at 20-20 in the second quarter. Canada led 16-14 after the first.

Men’s cycling: Via the official Paralympics site, some quotes here from the French para-cyclist Florian Jouanny, who was victorious in the H1-2 road race earlier today. He also won bronze in the H2 time trial yesterday: “It’s a huge emotion because I was dreaming about it and I make it today, so it’s just the best day of my life,” said the 29-year-old. “I came to Tokyo and my goal was to get one medal, so that’s just amazing I got a gold medal, bronze medal and we will have the relay with my French colleagues so we are expecting as well a medal, so it’s just amazing.”

Tomorrow, Jouanny will aim for a third medal of the Games in the Mixed H1-5 Team Relay.

Swimming: Karolina Pelendritou of Cyprus has just won gold in the women’s SB 11 100m Breaststroke, with Jia Ma of China taking silver and Yana Berezhna (Ukraine) winning bronze.

Now another match point for GB at 15-14. Their fifth. Predictably, Spain save it … and another astonishing rally ends with a match point for Spain … and Spain take it! 17-15 in the deciding game. Wow. That means Bailey and Karabardak need to win their singles matches if they are going to move into the gold medal match.

The table tennis is live on Channel 4 and it’s seriously exciting. Spain throw away serve and match point for 12-12, and Bailey and Karabardak have another match point at 13-12.

Men’s table tennis: 2-2 and 10-10 now as GB miss a match point! … and now a match point for Spain! And now 11-11. This is tense.

Men’s table tennis: Paralympics GB are in action against Spain in the Classes 6-7 semi-finals. William Bayley and Paul Karabardak v Jordi Morales and Alvaro Valera: it’s 2-2 in games and 9-6 to Spain who’ve just won five points in a row …

If badminton is your thing then it’s all going on right now. Four matches are in progress, and I’ll update as soon as the results start coming in.

Women’s doubles wheelchair tennis: The Netherlands and Japan have just concluded their semi-final on Centre Court at Ariake Tennis Park – the Dutch duo Diede de Groot and Aniek van Koot won in straight sets against Yui Kamiji and Momoko Ohtahni, 6-4, 6-2.

As Emma mentioned earlier, there has been controversy regarding the men’s shot put F20 class final yesterday, with three athletes disqualified after the event for being late. Here’s the story from AP:

Malaysian shot putter Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli appeared to have won gold in the shot put in the F20 class but after his victory on Tuesday, he was disqualified because he had arrived late for the competition. International Paralympic Committee spokesman Craig Spence said Zolkefli and two others — Todd Hodgetts of Australia and Jordi Patricio Congo Villalba of Ecuador, neither of whom reached the podium — were allowed to compete under protest after they failed to appear on time for the event.

“They were late, they may have had a logical reason for being late, and therefore we allowed them to compete and look at the facts of the matter afterward,” Spence said. A statement from World Para Athletics, which governs track and field for Para sports, said a referee had determined after the event that “there was no justifiable reason for the athletes’ failure to report” on time. It said an appeal was also turned down. The disqualification bumped Maksym Koval of Ukraine up to gold, and Ukraine teammate Oleksandr Yarovyi took silver. Bronze went to Efstratios Nikolaidis of Greece.

Spence said the disqualification was met with anger on social media. He described it as “very abusive.” Much of it targeted the Ukrainians. “We are now seeing comments on all our social media posts that have nothing to do with the men’s shot put F20 event,” Spence said. He said the Ukrainian Paralympic Committee “was getting a lot of abuse from Malaysians.”

“I’m sorry. Rules are rules,” Spence said. “The decision was taken. It wasn’t the Ukrainians fault that the Malaysian was late.” Spence said the three had arrived three minutes late. He said he did not see this as a harsh penalty. “Others get there five minutes early,” he said. Spence said an excuse given was that the Malaysian and the two others said they “didn’t hear the announcement or it was in a language” they did not understand. The F20 class in shot put is for athletes with an intellectual disabilities. The Associated Press attempted to reach the Malaysian delegation through an email address provided by IPC officials. There was no immediate response on Wednesday. (AP)

Olivia Breen, who won bronze for Paralympics GB in the T38 women’s long jump yesterday, has tweeted her delight at claiming a medal after years of hard work:

“From Rio where I came twelfth, not making the final, to now coming 3rd – the message I will give out to people is never to give up, your time will come. It may have taken me 10 years, uprooting my life, home and moving coaches but I made it to this moment.”

Men’s swimming: Carlos Daniel Serrano Zarate of Colombia claims gold in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB7. RPC’s Egor Efrosinin wins silver, Australia’s Blake Cochrane takes bronze.

Men’s wheelchair basketball: Germany won the fourth quarter against Spain in their quarter-final, by a score of 20-17, but that wasn’t enough to overhaul the lead that Spain built up in the first and second quarters. Spain progress to the semi-finals with a 71-68 victory.

I wasn’t able to see it live, but it sounds like a thrilling finish to this one: both Ruslan Kuznetsov (RPC) and Heinz Frei (Austria) finish the race in a time of 2 hr 34min 35sec, with the Russian taking gold. Walter Ablinger (Austria) wins the bronze medal, 31sec behind the gold and silver medallists.

Complete dominance from the Dutchman Jetze Plat, who finishes 5min 43sec ahead of his closest challenger, Thomas Früwirth of Austria, after the 79.2km race. Alexander Gritsch gives Austria two places on the podium by winning bronze, 7min 25sec behind the winner.

Beth Moulam said she is “living my dream” as she prepares to make her Paralympic bow 21 years after being inspired by the Sydney Games. Moulam, from York, has cerebral palsy and will compete for Great Britain in the boccia pairs competition at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre from Thursday.

The 27-year-old will do so just days after graduating from the University of York – which she did from her room in Tokyo – with a degree in social policy. “I was six when I first watched the Sydney Paralympics in 2000,” Moulam said. “I was captivated by watching the cerebral palsy sprinters, and then when I heard Caroline Baird (née Innes) interviewed I knew I wanted to be on that world stage. Caroline has cerebral palsy too and a speech impairment, it made me realise that if she could achieve in life, so could I.”

Moulam was unsure which sport she would pick, but at the age of 10 got the chance to take part in the Surrey Youth Games. Despite never having heard of boccia, she was hooked after just two short training sessions – but it took some motherly initiative to keep the journey going. “I hadn’t realised just how fiercely competitive I was until then,” she said. “I wanted to continue to play… there were no local clubs, so my friend’s mum and mine set up a club for us – ‘Boccia Epsom and Ewell.’ From there there was no turning back for me. Boccia became an all-consuming passion.” (By Max McLean, PA)

Men’s road cycling: In the H3 road race, Ruslan Kuznetsov (RPC) has struck out on his own from that previous leading group of four. At the intermediate check at 66km, he is alone in front with two chasers 28sec behind: Heinz Frei (Switzerland) and Walter Ablinger (Austria).

Men’s road cycling: Jetze Plat of the Netherlands is powering to victory in the H4 road race: at the final intermediate check, at 66km, he leads Thomas Früwirth (Austria) by 3min 2sec, with Alexander Gritsch (Austria) in bronze medal position, 5min 37sec behind Plat. Jonas van der Steene of Belgium is challenging for a medal, however, only 21sec down on Gritsch.