PARIS, 4 Sep. (by EUROPA PRESS special correspondent Ramón Chamorro) –
The seventh day of competition on Wednesday at the Paris Paralympic Games could once again be fruitful in terms of medals for the Spanish team, which will have its usual options in the pool, as well as new options offered by the return of cycling, as well as wheelchair tennis and table tennis.
Without a doubt, the return of cycling can be a plus to surpass the thirty medals at the end of the day. After a good balance on the track, with three added, now it’s time for the road races, starting with the time trials where almost all the national participants can have a chance, with Ricardo Ten (C1) and Sergio Garrote, on a handbike, the best placed to aspire to a gold that the Catalan defends, winner three years ago in Tokyo where Luis García-Marquina also won a bronze.
From there, the La Défense Arena pool will once again be a breeding ground for success for a swimming competition that continues to perform at a high level and has already won eleven medals, three more than those won three years ago in Tokyo. This Wednesday there are good options with Marta Fernández in the 50 breaststroke SB3, Sarai Gascón in the 100 freestyle S9 or Nahia Zudaire in the 400 freestyle S8, all candidates in their events.
In addition, table tennis could secure two more medals, as Jorge Cardona and Ander Cepas are playing in the quarter-finals of the class 9 and if they win they would already have a bronze, while in wheelchair tennis it will be a key day at Roland Garros. First, Martín de la Puente will play for a place in the semi-finals against the Frenchman Stéphane Houdet and then, together with Dani Caverzaschi, he will try to reach the final, which would confirm another and also historic medal, in doubles against the Japanese Takuya Miki and Tokito Oda, second favourites.
The day will also see the debut of wheelchair fencing with the participation of Galician Judith Rodríguez in foil, where she won European bronze this year, while at the Stade de France, attention will be focused on the 100 metres with Eduardo Ucena and Joan Munar in the T11 class, and Nagore Folgado and Melani Berges in the T12 class.
Finally, in team sports, the Spanish women’s wheelchair basketball team will play its difficult quarter-final match (18:15) against the Netherlands, current champion of everything, and the men’s team, after the setback in the quarter-finals against Germany that kept them out of the fight for medals, will start against Australia (10:30) in the fight to be fifth.