TOKYO: British cyclist Sarah Storey added to her glorious golden history as wheelchair rugby powerhouses Australia suffered a shock defeat on day one of the delayed Tokyo 2020 Paralympics on Wednesday.

Paige Greco, an Australian cyclist, had the honour of winning the first gold of the Games, 354 days later than originally envisaged because of the Covid-19 pandemic and a day after a high-energy but poignant opening ceremony.

Despite a year-long postponement, and with coronavirus fears hanging over the event, world and Paralympic records tumbled in the swimming pool and on the cycling track on a pulsating first day of competition that saw 24 gold medals awarded.

Greco was in record-breaking form as she beat China’s Wang Xiaomei in the gold medal race in C1-C3 class 3,000 metre individual pursuit at the Izu Velodrome.

She smashed her own world record by nearly eight seconds in the heats and lowered it by another second and a half to 3min 50.815sec in the final.

Australian team-mate William Martin also won gold in the first swimming final of the Paralympics, taking the 400m freestyle in the S9 class in 4:10.25 seconds. Ugo Didier of France took silver and Alex Tuckfield of Australia won bronze.

Storey moved a step closer to becoming Britain’s greatest Paralympian, shattering her own world record in the heats before powering to victory in the C5 3,000 metres individual pursuit final for her 15th Paralympic gold.

The 43-year-old took the title for a fourth consecutive Games when she caught compatriot Crystal Lane-Wright inside eight laps of the 12.

Storey is just one medal behind the British record held by Mike Kenny, who won 16 swimming golds from 1976 to 1988.

Brazilian Daniel Dias, who is competing at his last Paralympics, has the chance to become the most decorated male Paralympic swimmer of all time if he wins three more golds to eclipse Kenny.

But could only take bronze in his opening event, the S5 men’s 200m freestyle, which was won by Italy’s Francesco Bocciardo in a new Paralympic record time.

Dias, who has now won 25 Paralympic medals, will have several more chances to add to his 14 golds starting Thursday in the 100m freestyle.

Defending gold medallists Australia suffered a setback in their bid to become the first team to top the wheelchair rugby podium at three consecutive Games, edged out 54-53 by Denmark.

In the first wheelchair fencing final, Li Hao of China won gold in the men’s individual saber. He defeated Artem Manko of Ukraine 15-12 in the final.

Away from the competition, organisers confirmed Wednesday that two more athletes have tested positive for Covid-19 in the Paralympic Village. That brings to three the total of positive tests by athletes in the village over the last two days.

Organizers have confirmed nine positive tests in the village over the last three days. The additional six, who are not athletes, are described as Games-related personnel.

Organizing committee spokesman Masa Takaya said the athletes were from different sports and different countries. But he gave few details and said the athletes have been placed in isolation.

He was asked if there was a COVID-19 cluster in the village. “Whether or not there is a cluster should be based on the advice from specialists,” he said.

Japan is expanding its coronavirus state of emergency for a second week in a row, adding several more prefectures as a surge in infections fuelled by the delta variant strains the country’s health care system.

The Japanese capital has been under the emergency since July 12, but new daily cases have increased more than tenfold since then to about 5,000 in Tokyo and 25,000 nationwide. Hospital beds are quickly filling and many people must now recover at home, including some who require supplemental oxygen.

Japan has weathered the pandemic better than many other countries, with around 15,600 deaths nationwide since the start, but its vaccination efforts lag behind other wealthy nations. About 40% of the population has been fully vaccinated, mainly elderly people.

Dr. Shigeru Omi, a medical advisor for the government, criticised International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach for returning to Tokyo to attend Tuesday’s opening of the Paralympics.

“Right now, the government is requesting people to telework and [Bach] is coming back just for that,” Omi said, responding to a question from an opposition lawmaker in parliament.

“When the government is making those requests to the people, why is the Olympic leader, President Bach, coming all the way to Tokyo. Anyone with normal, common sense should be able to think that he has already come once and even visited Ginza.”

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2021