Durand bags 2nd gold
Durand bags 2nd gold
September 14, 2016 | 12:05 AM
India’s Deepa Malik gestures as she competes in the women’s final shot put F53 athletics event in Rio de Janeiro Monday. — AP
September 14, 2016 | 12:05 AM
Last Updated: September 14, 2016 | 12:05 AM
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RIO DE JANEIRO — Day five’s action in Rio was packed with emotion and drama as 48 gold medals were awarded across eight sports.
Alongside world records, more good news came in the form of ticket sales as the Rio Paralympics surpassed early warnings to become the second biggest Games yet in terms of tickets sold.
An estimated 1.9 million tickets have been bought — 76% of the 2.5 million available — silencing critics while putting Rio behind only London 2012 in filling its Paralympic seats, a report on CNN website said.
[caption id="attachment_84672" align="alignright"]
Omara Durand of Cuba poses with her 200m - T12 Final - gold medal during the victory ceremony in Rio de Janeiro Monday. — Reuters[/caption]Cuba’s Omara Durand, the fastest female Paralympian of all time, showed that not even her deteriorating eyesight can stop her winning more gold medals.
Durand won double gold at London 2012 in the 100-meter and 400-meter’s T13 race, for athletes who are visually impaired. But after giving birth to her daughter Erika in 2013, the 24-year-old’s sight worsened; at Rio she competes in the T12 class for the first time.
This hasn’t slowed the sprinter down, and Friday she smashed a world record in the 100-meter, winning gold in 11.40 seconds.
On Monday, Durand cemented her unstoppable status in the 200-meter final by storming across the finish to win gold in 23.05 seconds, a Paralympic record and just 0.02 off her world record mark.
Ukraine’s Oksana Boturchuk took home the silver medal with a new European record (23.65 seconds), while Azerbaijan’s Elena Chebanu set an Asian record by winning bronze with 23.80 seconds.
Durand hopes to bag her fifth gold medal Saturday as she competes in the 400-meter T12 final.
Indian shot putter Deepa Malik made history Monday by becoming the country’s first woman to win a Paralympic medal.
The 45-year-old threw a personal best of 4.61 meters to win silver in the F53 class, a category for seated athletes with full arm power but limited hand muscles.
Three spinal operations to remove a tumor left Malik paralyzed from the chest down. In 2009 she became the first paraplegic driver to take part in the Raid de Himalaya, one of the world’s highest and most challenging motor rallies.
“I dared to dream and I have determination to work hard and the passion and perseverance to follow that dream. Women often lose that and I have ensured that my family is not neglected, my children are doing well, too,” she told the Games’ official website.
Malik’s sixth and silver-winning throw put her ahead of Greece’s Dimitra Korokida, who won bronze with her season’s best of 4.28 meters. Bahrain’s Fatema Nedham won the gold with 4.76 meters, a regional record.
Having collapsed to the floor in anguish after his Paralympic table tennis final defeat four years ago, Great Britain’s Will Bayley claimed Rio 2016 gold by clambering up onto the table in elation.
Thousands of partisan supporters baying for Brazil’s Israel Pereira Stroh fell silent, while for Bayley, a lifetime of trials and tribulations came to a triumphant head.
“Words don’t do it justice,” Bayley told Britain’s Channel 4 after he beat his opponent 3-1.
A yellow card for his exuberance was a small price to pay as the 28-year-old hugged everyone from the umpire to English comedian Johnny Vegas.
Born with arthrogryposis, a rare congenital disease leading to contracture of the limbs, Bayley was only able to walk as a child with the aid of special boots, after years of reconstruction operations.
At age 6, he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. A six-month course of chemotherapy followed as Bayley battled his cancer and eventually found salvation through sport.
But his gold in Rio two decades on may never have been achieved without the input of his late grandmother. Her gift of a table tennis table sparked a lifetime’s passion, a fact not lost on Bayley as he broke into floods of tears on live television after the match. “This is for my grandma. I miss her.”
Omara Durand of Cuba poses with her 200m - T12 Final - gold medal during the victory ceremony in Rio de Janeiro Monday. — Reuters[/caption]Cuba’s Omara Durand, the fastest female Paralympian of all time, showed that not even her deteriorating eyesight can stop her winning more gold medals.
Durand won double gold at London 2012 in the 100-meter and 400-meter’s T13 race, for athletes who are visually impaired. But after giving birth to her daughter Erika in 2013, the 24-year-old’s sight worsened; at Rio she competes in the T12 class for the first time.
This hasn’t slowed the sprinter down, and Friday she smashed a world record in the 100-meter, winning gold in 11.40 seconds.
On Monday, Durand cemented her unstoppable status in the 200-meter final by storming across the finish to win gold in 23.05 seconds, a Paralympic record and just 0.02 off her world record mark.
Ukraine’s Oksana Boturchuk took home the silver medal with a new European record (23.65 seconds), while Azerbaijan’s Elena Chebanu set an Asian record by winning bronze with 23.80 seconds.
Durand hopes to bag her fifth gold medal Saturday as she competes in the 400-meter T12 final.
Indian shot putter Deepa Malik made history Monday by becoming the country’s first woman to win a Paralympic medal.
The 45-year-old threw a personal best of 4.61 meters to win silver in the F53 class, a category for seated athletes with full arm power but limited hand muscles.
Three spinal operations to remove a tumor left Malik paralyzed from the chest down. In 2009 she became the first paraplegic driver to take part in the Raid de Himalaya, one of the world’s highest and most challenging motor rallies.
“I dared to dream and I have determination to work hard and the passion and perseverance to follow that dream. Women often lose that and I have ensured that my family is not neglected, my children are doing well, too,” she told the Games’ official website.
Malik’s sixth and silver-winning throw put her ahead of Greece’s Dimitra Korokida, who won bronze with her season’s best of 4.28 meters. Bahrain’s Fatema Nedham won the gold with 4.76 meters, a regional record.
Having collapsed to the floor in anguish after his Paralympic table tennis final defeat four years ago, Great Britain’s Will Bayley claimed Rio 2016 gold by clambering up onto the table in elation.
Thousands of partisan supporters baying for Brazil’s Israel Pereira Stroh fell silent, while for Bayley, a lifetime of trials and tribulations came to a triumphant head.
“Words don’t do it justice,” Bayley told Britain’s Channel 4 after he beat his opponent 3-1.
A yellow card for his exuberance was a small price to pay as the 28-year-old hugged everyone from the umpire to English comedian Johnny Vegas.
Born with arthrogryposis, a rare congenital disease leading to contracture of the limbs, Bayley was only able to walk as a child with the aid of special boots, after years of reconstruction operations.
At age 6, he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. A six-month course of chemotherapy followed as Bayley battled his cancer and eventually found salvation through sport.
But his gold in Rio two decades on may never have been achieved without the input of his late grandmother. Her gift of a table tennis table sparked a lifetime’s passion, a fact not lost on Bayley as he broke into floods of tears on live television after the match. “This is for my grandma. I miss her.” 
