September 14, 2008	Sunday	Ramazan 13, 1429

BEIJING, Sept 13: Oscar “Blade Runner” Pistorius on Saturday won his second gold of the Paralympic Games as China stretched its lead at the top of the medals table.

And there was controversy as Iran abruptly withdrew from their men’s wheelchair basketball quarter-final with the United States complaining of a change in schedule.

Pistorius — aiming for a sprint treble here — was dominant down the home straight, finishing in 21.67secs, almost a second clear of Jim Bob Bizzell from the United States, with Britain’s Ian Jones in third.

“This race is definitely going down as one of my best ever races. I’ve never run in front of a crowd this big and just the crowd, the athletes, it was an awesome race and I couldn’t have hoped for anything better,” he said.

The 21-year-old said he had been feeling a little unwell in the run-up to the final but that adrenaline saw him home.

“This is definitely one of the most amazing nights ever. It’s really been a good memory.” Pistorius has just one race left, the 400m, in which he is targeting a world record.

“I’m really looking forward to the 400m. If those two races, if it goes like that, then I’ll be extremely happy,” said the South African, the world record holder in his category in all three events.

Nicknamed after the carbon fibre blades he wears, Pistorius won a court battle to take part in the Olympics after proving himself a strong competitor against able-bodied athletes.

He eventually failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics, blaming in part the distraction of his court battle, but he is targeting the London 2012 Games.

In the pool, Erin Popovich of the United States missed out on the chance to add to her clutch of four gold medals, losing to China’s Huang Min in the women’s 50m butterfly.

China had 48 golds and 129 medals in total Saturday evening -- boosted by 22 athletics golds and eight in table tennis -- with Britain on 37 golds and 80 medals overall.

Meanwhile, the Iranian wheelchair basketball team had been due to play the United States in a morning clash but forfeited the game.

A statement from the International Paralympic Committee said Iran had pulled out because they were unhappy with the draw and schedule for the later rounds.

One potential semi-final opponent for Iran had been Israel.

But a member of the Iranian delegation said: “The main reason for not participating is the change of competition time by the organisers” after the game was rescheduled to 9:00 am from 11.15 am.

Controversies have taken some of the gloss off what has otherwise been a celebration of disabled sports, led by the performances of South African Olympian Natalie du Toit, who has won four golds in the pool, and Pistorius.

So far four athletes, including three powerlifters, have been kicked out of the Games for doping offences.

And Irish sports chiefs on Thursday announced that athlete Derek Malone had been banned from the Paralympics because authorities had deemed him not disabled enough.—AFP