Turkey's women achieve a record in goalball and the Japanese end the Dutch supremacy in wheelchair tennis.
History women
All hail the women's goalball team of Turkey. They won a record third Paralympic title with an 8-3 obliteration of Israel at the South Paris Arena. Women's goalball was introduced at the 1984 Paralympics in New York City where the United States won the inaugural title. Canada claimed back-to-back crowns in 2000 and 2004 but Turkey have surpassed that. They have tasted glory in Rio in 2016, Tokyo in 2021 and Paris 2024.
Golden goalball
Men's goalball came to the Paralympics in 1976 in Toronto. Japan lifted their first title following a see-saw struggle with Ukraine. Japan were 2-0 up. Ukraine came back and levelled. Japan led 3-2 and Ukraine pegged them back to force two three-minute periods of overtime where the 'golden goal' operates. Japan got the goal but The Review did feel for the Ukrainians. Actually, we just wanted more of the brilliant action and the chance to see a goalball penalty shoot-out. We feel denied.
Sweet 16
And on the French delegation ploughs to the wonderland of 20 gold medals. Florian Jouanny retained his men's H1-2 road race crown early on Day 8 to take France's gold medal tally to 16. French paralympic chiefs want their operatives to finish within the top eight nations and have set a target of 20 golds. With three more days of competition remaining, France lie in fifth place with 17 golds among their 61 prizes.
Broken tradition
Monique Kalkman-Van Den Bosch and Chantal Vandierendonck from the Netherlands won gold in the inaugural women's doubles in the wheelchair tennis in Barcelona in 1992. They retained the title in 1996 in Atlanta. Compatriots Maaike Smit and Esther Vergeer carried on the winning tradition in Sydney in 2000 and Athens in 2004. And gold has been a Dutch thing ever since. Diede de Groot and Aniek van Koot entered the 2024 tournament in Paris as defending champions and top seeds. But shock at the Roland Garros stadium over on the leafy western fringes of the city. The Dutch lost the flnal in the super tiebreaker deciding set to the Japanese duo Yui Kamiji and Manami Tanaka.
Redemption
Yui Kamiji’s quest for a gold is over. She has a silver and two bronzes from her previous trips to the Paralympics. “It is really tough to have lost in Paralympic finals," the 30-year-old told the International Tennis Federation's website. "Players have gold medals and they have that achievement forever." Of her surge to victory of Van Koot and De Groot, she added: "Me and Manami just focused on our game and tried to keep pressure on them. It worked." The women's singles final on Day 9 in the wheelchair tennis should be a feisty affair. Kamiji will play a certain Diede de Groot.
