With a powerful performance in the pool once again, Aurélie Rivard of Canada swam to her 10th career Paralympic medal on Thursday. The athlete earned silver in a spectacular display of athleticism for her fifth medal captured at the Tokyo Games alone.
The 25-year-old was in fifth place at the halfway point of the women’s S10 100-metre backstroke final. Without hesitation, Rivard turned on the jets and flew through the water into second place.
Then Brent Lakatos, 41, earned his fourth silver in Tokyo while competing in the men’s T53 800-metre final. As the rain teemed down, he claimed the 11th Paralympic medal of his illustrious career.
As before in these Games, it came down to a battle between the Dorval, Que., wheelchair racer and Thailand’s Pongsakorn Paeyo. The pair traded leads on the tough conditions of the wet track before Thailand’s racer came out on top.
Both Canadian athletes have one more event each in Tokyo.
WATCH | Canada’s Rivard races to a 10th career Paralympic medal in Tokyo:
Aurélie Rivard swims to 100m backstroke silver, adds to Paralympic medal tally
8 hours ago
The St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que. native captures silver in the women’s 100m backstroke S10 final. 4:17
Here’s more of what you missed on Thursday:
1st Canadian badminton player at Paralympics
When Olivia Meier of Winnipeg emerged on the Tokyo court, she became the first-ever Canadian to compete in Para badminton at the Paralympic Games.
The sport is being played at the Paralympics for the first time. The 22-year-old dropped her opening match in the women’s SL4 category to Thailand’s Chanida Srinavakul, as well as her next one to Norway’s Helle Sofie Sagoey, who is seeded third at the Paralympics.
The Canadian will continue her group play tomorrow, looking to take down an Australian opponent for her first match win.
Aurélie Rivard and Brent Lakatos of Canada both had dynamic performances in their races on Thursday to claim a pair of silver medals at the Tokyo Paralympic Games. (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images, Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
Taekwondo debuts with Afghan athlete among first competitors
Along with badminton, taekwondo is the other sport making its debut at the Paralympic Games this year.
The event also saw Afghan athlete Zakia Khudadadi compete. Whether she’d even get to these Games was, for a time, unknown; she and teammate Hossain Rasouli were evacuated from Afghanistan after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban.
Khudadadi and her opponent Ziyodakhon Sakova of Uzbekistan competed in the first-ever bout on Thursday. Though she lost in the women’s K44 49-kilogram event, and again in the repechage, the 22-year-old also became the first female athlete from Afghanistan to compete at the Paralympics since 2004.
Chanida Srinavakul, top, of Thailand competes against Olivia Meier of Canada in the women’s singles SL4 badminton group play stage at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo on Thursday. (Thomas Lovelock/OIS/The Associated Press)
Proposal on the track
Cape Verde sprinter Keula Nidreia Pereira Semedo ran a season’s best at the National Stadium on Thursday.
Then as competitors from her women’s T11 200-metre heat gathered around, her guide bent to one knee with a Paralympic proposal.
Running to a ring ????<br><br>We have a Paralympic PROPOSAL ❤️<br><br>Manuel Antonio Vaz da Veiga, guide to Keula Nidreia Pereira Semedo, popped the question after the women’s T11 200m heats <a href=”https://t.co/GiMszAo7D9″>pic.twitter.com/GiMszAo7D9</a>
The T11 events are for athletes with visual impairments. Manuel Antonio Vaz da Veiga is Semedo’s guide while competing. The pair are tethered together, and Vaz da Veiga provides vocal cues among other assistance.
The athletes all cheered as Vaz da Veiga put a ring on his partner’s finger.
Canoe sprint
Canoe sprint events got underway at the Sea Forest Waterway in Tokyo on Thursday, with three Canadians hitting the water. The trio will compete in semifinals tomorrow in an attempt to move on to the finals, as only the top in each race booked a direct ticket.
Brianna Hennessy of Ottawa had third-place finishes in both her va’a and kayak 200-metre heats in the VL2 and KL1 classes. Para va’a — in which athletes compete in an outrigger canoe — is making its debut at the Paralympics.
Andrea Nelson of Markham, Ont., was also competing in kayak, but in the KL2 class, where she was third. Meanwhile, Mathieu St-Pierre, of Shawinigan, Que., was fifth in his va’a event.
TORONTO – Reigning PWHL MVP and scoring champ Natalie Spooner will miss the start of the regular season for the Toronto Sceptres, general manager Gina Kingsbury announced Tuesday on the first day of training camp.
The 33-year-old Spooner had knee surgery on her left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) after she was checked into the boards by Minnesota’s Grace Zumwinkle in Game 3 of their best-of-five semifinal series on May 13.
She had a goal and an assist in three playoff games but did not finish the series. Toronto was up 2-1 in the semifinal at that time and eventually fell 3-2 in the series.
Spooner led the PWHL with 27 points in 24 games. Her 20 goals, including five game-winners, were nine more than the closest skater.
Kingsbury said there is no timeline, as the team wants the Toronto native at 100 per cent, but added that “she is doing really well” in her recovery.
The Sceptres open the PWHL season on Nov. 30 when they host the Boston Fleet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board declined Friday to confirm media reports that India has decided against playing any games in host Pakistan during next year’s Champions Trophy.
“My view is if there’s any problems, they (India) should tell us in writing,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Lahore. “I’ll share that with the media as well as with the government as soon as I get such a letter.”
Indian media reported Friday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has communicated its concerns to all the Champions Trophy stakeholders, including the PCB, over the Feb. 19-March 9 tournament and would not play in arch-rival Pakistan.
The Times of India said that “Dubai is a strong candidate to host the fixtures involving the Men in Blue” for the 50-over tournament.
Such a solution would see Pakistan having to travel to a neutral venue to play India in a group match, with another potential meeting later in the tournament if both teams advanced from their group. The final is scheduled for March 9 in Pakistan with the specific venue not yet decided.
“Our stance is clear,” Naqvi said. “They need to give us in writing any objections they may have. Until now, no discussion of the hybrid model has happened, nor are we prepared to accept one.”
Political tensions have stopped bilateral cricket between the two nations since 2008 and they have competed in only multi-nation tournaments, including ICC World Cups.
“Cricket should be free of politics,” Naqvi said. “Any sport should not be entangled with politics. Our preparations for the Champions Trophy will continue unabated, and this will be a successful event.”
The PCB has already spent millions of dollars on the upgrade of stadiums in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi which are due to host 15 Champions Trophy games. Naqvi hoped all the three stadiums will be ready over the next two months.
“Almost every country wants the Champions Trophy to be played here (in Pakistan),” Naqvi said. “I don’t think anyone should make this a political matter, and I don’t expect they will. I expect the tournament will be held at the home of the official hosts.”
Eight countries – Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan – are due to compete in the tournament, the schedule of which is yet to be announced by the International Cricket Council.
“Normally the ICC announces the schedule of any major tournament 100 days before the event, and I hope they will announce it very soon,” Naqvi said.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Ottawa‘s Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand are through to the doubles final at the WTA Finals after a 7-6 (7), 6-1 victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Australia’s Ellen Perez in semifinal action Friday.
Dabrowski and Routliffe won a hard-fought first set against serve when Routliffe’s quick reaction at the net to defend a Perez shot gave the duo set point, causing Perez to throw down her racket in frustration.
The second seeds then cruised through the second set, winning match point on serve when Melichar-Martinez couldn’t handle Routliffe’s shot.
The showdown was a rematch of last year’s semifinal, which Melichar-Martinez and Perez won in a super tiebreak.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will face the winner of a match between Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, and Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova in the final on Saturday.
Dabrowski is aiming to become the first Canadian to win a WTA Finals title.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
