Ukrainian athletes won the first medals on the debut competition day of the XVI Summer Paralympic Games – three medals in less than an hour.
Kyiv. Ukraine. Ukraine Gate – August 25, 2021 – Sport
The Paralympic team of Ukraine won its first medal at the 2020 Games in Tokyo in fencing, it was won by 38-year-old fencer Eugenia Breus.
Eugenia competes on a saber in wheelchair fencing, in classification A. In the 1/8 finals, the Ukrainian confidently defeated the representative of PKR – 15: 7, then knocked out the third seed (fencer from China) – 15:11. However, in the semifinals she could not keep the advantage over Nino Tibilashvili from Georgia – 12:15, respectively, won a place in the match for “bronze”.
The Ukrainian’s opponent was Eva Andrea Gaimasi from Hungary – a fencer who won Paralympic medals in rapier, but in Tokyo 2020 she competes in two classes at once.
Artem Manko also won silver in wheelchair fencing, in men’s classification A.
The 22-year-old Ukrainian guaranteed himself a medal – in the semifinals he defeated another Ukrainian Andriy Demchuk. However, he still had to win the final fight to become a Paralympic champion.
In the final, Artem Manko met against an athlete from China – Li Hao. The Ukrainian fencer took the lead and led in the first half of the fight – 8: 4. However, later Hao began to playback, and before the final matches, he became equal – 10:10.
The decisive moment of the meeting was the next four injections made by a Chinese fencer. Manko played two, but could not snatch victory – 15:12 in favor of Hao.
Swimming
Anton Kohl won the first medal for Ukraine in swimming at the 2020 Games.
Kohl competed against Ukraine in class S1 with a congenital defect of the musculoskeletal system. The Ukrainian swimmer immediately competed in the final for Olympic medals. His main opponents were Iyad Shalabi of Israel and Francesco Bettella of Italy.
The Ukrainian started swimming third but later increased his speed. At the finish, Kohl almost caught on to the “gold” but lost to the Israeli Shalabi in less than 0.3 seconds.
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Source: Ukrgate