PARIS: Japanese swimmer Keiichi Kimura earned a gold medal in the men’s 50-meter freestyle event in the S11 class for athletes with vision impairment at the Paris Paralympic Games on Saturday.

This is his ninth Paralympic medal. In the 2021 Tokyo Paralympics, Kimura won gold in the 100-meter butterfly competition and silver in the 100-meter breaststroke event.

In the Paris Games’ 100-meter backstroke for men in the S8 class for swimmers including those with condition affected to a low level, Kota Kubota of Japan grabbed a silver medal.

In the men’s boccia individual, Hidetaka Sugimura, who won gold in the event in the Tokyo Games, lost to a Thai player in the quarterfinals in the BC2 class for athletes including those with movement affected from a low to moderate level.

In wheelchair badminton, the Japanese pair of Sarina Satomi and Yuma Yamazaki advanced to the women’s doubles final. Daiki Kajiwara reached the men’s singles semifinals, and Yamazaki reached the last four in the women’s singles event.

Japan’s wheelchair rugby team swept the group stage to advance to the semifinals. On Saturday, Japan beat Canada 50-46 in its third and final match in Group A.

JIJI Press