Paralympic Games: Australia's Paige Greco wins first gold at Tokyo 2020 as Japan battles Covid increase

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Greco crossed the road first within the ladies’s C1-3 3,000 meters particular person pursuit on the Izu Velodrome forward of silver medalist Xiaomei Wang from China. Germany’s Denise Schindler clinched bronze.

Among the many dozens of medal occasions Wednesday, 16 golds are up for grabs in swimming.

Talking after qualifying for the lads’s 400 meters freestyle ultimate on Wednesday afternoon in Japan, Australian swimmer Alexander Tuckfield mentioned stepping into the pool after the lengthy postponement felt like having a “weight lifted from my shoulders.”

“5 years of simply coaching, coaching and coaching for this competitors,” Tuckfield mentioned.

The wheelchair basketball and goalball competitions additionally started on Wednesday, with China’s ladies’s basketball staff beating Algeria 74-25 and the Netherlands defeating Staff USA 68-58.

Medal occasions in wheelchair fencing are scheduled for Wednesday afternoon in Japan.

The 2020 Paralympics kicked off with a colorful and celebratory opening ceremony Tuesday evening, together with a parade of the collaborating nations led by the six-member Paralympic Refugee Staff.

One volunteer carried the Afghanistan flag, in honor of Afghan athletes unable to compete within the Video games after flights in another country had been canceled after the Taliban seized energy.

Talking on Wednesday, IPC spokesman Craig Spence mentioned two Paralympians from Afghanistan had managed to flee the nation.

“I am not going to inform you the place they’re, as a result of this is not about sports activities, that is about human life and conserving folks protected,” he mentioned. “They’re now in a protected place. They’ve been by means of a really traumatic course of, and they’re present process counseling and psychological well being assessments.”

Maryam Salehizadeh and Meghan Mahon of Canada in action during a goalball match with the Russian Olympic Committee on August 25 in Chiba, Japan.

Not each nation attended the opening ceremony: New Zealand’s Paralympic staff didn’t participate attributable to issues over the unfold of Covid-19.

Japan has seen file coronavirus circumstances in latest months, with greater than 21,000 infections and 42 deaths nationwide reported Tuesday.

Tokyo confirmed 4,220 new circumstances on Tuesday, taking the entire variety of infections in August to over 100,000 — the primary time a month-to-month tally has crested 100,000 circumstances. Final week, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike mentioned the scenario was a “disaster-level” emergency.

In keeping with the Prime Minister’s workplace, simply over 40% of Japan’s inhabitants has been totally vaccinated as of August 22.

The Japanese authorities is ready to determine Wednesday on increasing a state of emergency for Tokyo and 12 different areas to eight extra prefectures, in line with public broadcaster NHK.

Just like the Olympics, the Paralympics are being held virtually fully with out spectators to curb the unfold of the virus. Plans to permit some schoolchildren to attend occasions had been canceled in some components of the nation as a result of unfold of the virus, Tokyo 2020 spokesman Takaya Masa mentioned Wednesday.

No less than eight Paralympic athletes have examined constructive for Covid-19 since August 12, in line with the IPC, in addition to 33 Video games-related personnel.

CNN’s Emiko Jozuka in Tokyo contributed reporting.

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