From our Olympics correspondent in Paris – Japan won its first-ever gold medal in wheelchair rugby at Paris's Champs-de-Mars Arena Monday night, surging ahead of the US team at half-time. It was an infuriating night for the US, which has failed to win gold in the fast-paced sport – once known as "murderball" for its full-contact play-style – since 2008.
Murderball is relentless. Once a player has the ball, the shot-clock starts counting down; they have just 40 seconds to fight their way through the opposing side and drive it through the goalposts at the end of the court. This is easier said than done – wheelchair rugby, as it is now known, is a notoriously high-contact sport, and the blunt impact of wheelchair ramming wheelchair echoes non-stop through the arena.
