PARIS, 3 Sep. (by EUROPA PRESS special correspondent Ramón Chamorro) –
The sixth day of competition at the Paris Paralympic Games, which marks the halfway point of the event, will once again bring medal opportunities for the Spanish delegation in athletics, swimming and table tennis, on a key day for the Spanish men’s wheelchair basketball team and for Martín de la Puente and Dani Caverzaschi in wheelchair tennis.
After a great Monday, with seven medals won, Spain wants to continue adding to its tally in Paris 2024 in order to surpass the 36 medals it won three years ago in Tokyo. To do so, it will once again have almost daily options at the Stade de France and La Défense Arena.
The tartan will see the debut of Galician sprinter Adiaratou Iglesias, who will defend her 2021 gold in the 100 metres in the T13 class for visually impaired athletes, while Yassine Ouhdadi will attempt a complicated double in the 1,500 metres T13, a distance that he is not as good at as the 5,000 metres but in which he was runner-up at the world championships in 2023 in the French capital.
In the pool, the names to watch will be medallists such as Marta Fernández, who will compete in the 100 freestyle in the S3 class, where Teresa Perales will also be competing, whose aim is to reach the final; Nuria Marquès, in the 100 backstroke S9, where she is the current world runner-up and where she will swim accompanied by Beatriz Lérida, European runner-up; and Toni Ponce, in the 50 backstroke S5.
Another medal hope will be at the Arena Sud Paris 4, where Seville’s Álvaro Valera could secure at least a bronze if he beats American Ian Seidenfeld, the current Paralympic champion, in the quarter-finals of class 6 of table tennis. Jorge Cardona and Ander Cepas will also be in contention in class 9.
In addition, the Spanish men’s wheelchair basketball team will play its decisive quarter-final match against Germany, which would allow it to enter the medal race for the third consecutive Paralympic Games. Martín de la Puente and Dani Caverzaschi are also seeking the same goal, as they face the Dutch pair Maikel Scheffers and Tom Egberink, their respective rivals in the round of 16, in the quarter-finals, and if they win they would enter the semi-finals. In boccia, the BC4 mixed doubles competition will begin with Sara Aller and Vasile Agache.