Day three of the Summer Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro brought a busy schedule of sports and event for the Scots on the ParlympicsGB team.
Judo
It had been a tough day of competition in the Men’s 90kg category for Edinburgh’s Sam Ingram who had represented GB at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing, where he won the 90kg bronze medal and four years later went one better winning silver at the London 2012 Games.
Sam got off to a challenging start in Rio losing his quarter-final fight to Jorge Hierrezuelo of Cuba after being held down in the final minute. He then moved into the repechage where he defeated Haruka Hirose of Japan. With two fights away from a bronze medal Sam managed to beat Arthur Cavalcante Da Silva who was fighting on home turf. With a second bronze medal in sight Sam met USA Judoka Dartanyon Crockett, where his medal hopes came to an end. Unfortunately on this occasion Sam was unable to make the medal podium, but finished a very respectable fifth place.
Sam commented;
“To be honest, I underperformed in this tournament and the referee’s decisions didn’t go my way. Sometimes in judo you need things to just go your way as well”.
“All of these guys from around the world are training day in, day out, in big set-ups with loads of training partners and they’re all within institutes of sport. The Paralympic movement has moved on massively, as the Olympics has”.
“You can see it in every sport. In judo, I wouldn’t predict a gold medal because it’s unpredictable, but for our young guys, the sky’s the limit.”
Powerlifting
Micky Yule represented Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 finishing in 4th place in the Men’s Heavyweight category and in 2015 he won the gold medal in the up to 80Kg weight class at the IPC Powerlifting European Championships.
Edinburgh’s Yule, competing in his first Paralympic Games in Rio, finished in sixth place in the men’s -65kg class recording a best lift of 180kg in the first round before failures at 184kg and 187kg.
Gold went to Nigeria’s Paul Kehinde with a world record lift of 218kg.
Micky said:
“That was hard today – the coaches and I knew we had to open big to be in with a chance of keeping up with the stronger nations so we went for it.
“I’ve never lifted more than 180kg in that weight category before but Rio only happens once and I would rather go out there and try than regret not doing so.”
Swimming
Glasgow’s Andrew Mullen was back in the pool for the S5 50m Butterfly following his bronze medal success in the S5 200m Freestyle on day one of the Games. Andrew secured a new personal best and European record but still missed out on a medal at the Olympic Aquatic Centre.
Andrew swam 36.32, three tenths of second behind Brazilian bronze medallist Daniel Dias, while American Roy Perkins took gold ahead of China’s He Shiwei.
Athletics
Following her fifth place finish in the T53 100m, Sammi Kinghorn was back on the track to compete in the heats of the of the T53 400m. Sammi finished fourth in her heat in 56.76 seconds and qualified for the final in one of the fastest loser spots. The T53 400m final takes place at the Olympic Stadium tomorrow, 11 September.
Wheelchair Basketball
Following yesterday’s 79-20 victory over Argentina, Robyn Love and the GB Women’s Basketball Team faced a tougher test against a German side who defeated Brazil in their previous Group A match. A strong third quarter performance by the GB women’s helped them complete a 50-45 win over reigning Paralympic champions Germany in the Rio Olympic Arena. Their final Group A match is against hosts Brazil tomorrow. 11 September.
Boccia
This was the opening matches for the Boccia team and pair’s competitions and it was a busy opening schedule for the Scots within the GB team.
The BC1-2 team, including Josh Rowe, won their opening group game 11-2 against the Netherlands but then slipped to a 10-4 defeat to Japan and will now face Thailand in Sunday’s quarter-finals.
In the BC3 Pairs competition, Scott and Jamie McCowan and Patrick Wilson will now face Singapore, after suffering a 4-3 defeat to Portugal and a 4-1 loss to Greece.
In the BC4 Pairs event, Stephen McGuire and Kieran Steer will take on Hong Kong China in their final pool game after a 4-2 win over Slovakia and an 11-4 defeat of Portugal.
Football 7 a Side
David Porcher’s goal in the opening Group A match of the Football 7 a Side competition had not been enough for GB as they suffered an agonising 2-1 defeat to Brazil. Up next was a match against world number one Ukraine and a win was essential if GB were to progress to the medal matches. It wasn’t to be for GB who endured another agonising 2-1 defeat against the two-time Paralympic champions. After falling behind, Michael Barker brought the GB team level at the start of the second half but Artem Krasylnykov scored Ukraine’s winner from the penalty spot.
Archery
Polbeth’s Natathan McQueen was Scotland’s only representative on the ParalympicsGB Archery team and was in Rio to compete in the Individual Compound Open competition. Nathan shot well, finishing the day in fifth place with a score of 681 with Bulent Korkmaz from Turkey leading the way with 687. Nathan was the best of the British males in the individual compound and will now face South Africa’s Shaun Anderson on 14 September
Nathan along with Jodie Grinham are through to the quarter-finals of the mixed team compound open on a bye and will face fourth seeds Italy on 12 September after ranking fifth overall.