LONDON, Sept 4: Chinese swimmers surged to collect five gold medals at the London Paralympics on Monday, raising China’s gold tally to 46 after the fifth day of competitions.
China lead the medal standings with 46 golds and 112 in total, while Britain have 19 golds and 63 overall. Third-placed Russia have 16 golds among their 49 medals, which is one more in total than Australia, who also have 16 golds.
Thanks to the swimmers’ stunning performance, China garnered 11 golds on Monday to consolidate their leading position.
The Chinese swimmers also broke four world records on Monday. Yang Yang set another world record in the men’s 100m freestyle-S2 on Monday. He swam a time of 2:03.71.
Australia’s Jacqueline Freney won her fifth gold of the Games in the stand-out performance of the day.
World record holder Freney, who has cerebral palsy, took gold in a new Paralympic best of 1min 9.39sec in the S7 100m freestyle to add to her titles in the S7 50m butterfly, S7 100m backstroke and SM7 200m individual medley.
Then with team-mates Ellie Cole, Madison Elliott and Katherine Downey, the 20-year-old added the women’s 4x100m freestyle 34 points relay.
Meanwhile, Eleanor Simmonds secured her second gold medal with a world record in the women’s 200-meter individual medley SM6. The 17-year-old Briton won in 3:05.39.
Yao Juan of China set a world record with 1,055 points and a mark of 13.05 metres in the women’s shot put F42/44, beating countrywoman Yang Yue.
The last gold of the day went to Birgit Kober from Germany in the women’s javelin throw — 33/34/52/53. Nicknamed ‘Tiger’ by her mother, Kober also broke the world record, with a throw of 27.03 metres.
Iliesa Delana won Fiji’s first gold at the Paralympics in the men’s high jump-F42.
Women’s table tennis favorite Natalia Partyka won the gold in the singles-Class 10. Her gold took Poland’s gold tally to five, after she beat China’s Yang Qian in five sets.
On the track, El Amin Chentouf of Morocco smashed the world best by more than 30sec in the T12 5,000m for visually impaired and blind athletes, finishing in 13min 53.77sec.
Kenya’s Samwel Mushai Kimani, with guide runner James Boit, romped to a new world record of 3min 58.37 in the T11 1,500m, beating Brazil’s Odair Santos, who was also inside his previous world best of 4min 03.66sec.
Wheelchair racer Ryan Martin of the US added the T52 400m to his 100m title while Ireland’s Michael McKillop won gold in the men’s 1,500m-T37.—Agencies






























