Key events
Cycling: There may be no velodromes in Ghana but that has not stopped the country from sending a track cyclist to the Games. Frederick Assor and his pilot, Rudolf Mensah, loop the track on a brightly coloured tandem with spoked wheels and a Heath Robinson air.
Assor and Mensah finished last in the men’s B 4,000m individual pursuit on the first day at the track, their time of 6min 30.071sec, a Ghanaian and African record. They returned on Sunday, whooped along by the crowd, this time in the B 1,000m time trial, where they also finished last.
The huge gap isn’t much of a surprise: the bike Assor rides compared to the bikes of other nations is the difference between a pawing thoroughbred and a weary donkey.
Read more here on how Assor and Mensah hope their appearance in Paris can spark change despite their “very old bike”.
Wheelchair tennis: Earlier today, ParalympicsGB’s Alfie Hewett, the No 1 seed, breezed past the Netherlands’s Ruben Spaargaren 6-1, 6-4 in the men’s singles quarter-final.
Great Britain’s Gordon Reid will not join is compatriot in the semi-finals after falling to Gustavo Fernandez of Argentina 6-0, 7-6 (5).
The No 2 seed, Tokito Oda of Japan, qualified for the last four after winning 6-4, 6-1 against Tom Egberink of the Netherlands.
The final spot in the semis is being decided now, with Spain’s Martin de la Puente just taking the first set 6-2 against France’s Stephane Houdet.
Powerlifting: Cui Zhe of China wins gold in the women’s up to 41kg at La Chapelle Arena, lifting a Paralympic record of 119. Esther Nworgu of Nigeria missies out by just 1kg, lifting 118 and takes silver while Brazil’s Lara Aparecida de Lima is the bronze winner with 109.
Cycling: Daniel Abraham of the Netherlands has just finished in the men’s C5 individual time trial results with the fastest time of 35:51.79 and will take his third Paralympic gold. Australia’s Alistair Donohoe finishes behind him by +26.87 and France’s Dorian Foulon takes bronze. Great Britain’s Blaine Hunt finished in 11th with a time of 42:22.07.
Goalball: Ukraine have just beat the defending champions Brazil in the men’s semi-final 6-4. Vasyl Oliinyk scored five times for the winners, who will meet one of China or Japan in the final.
Dame Sarah Storey continued her historic pursuit of gold upon gold, claiming her 18th Paralympic victory over nine Games as she won the women’s C5 time trial, but hit out at organisers for creating a course that was just half the length of the men’s.
Storey won the time trial by 4.69 seconds from Heidi Gaugain of France, having been seven seconds behind at the initial checkpoint at 5.8km. But that was the only check on the entire course, which ran just 14.2km in total, half the length of the race to be completed by male athletes later in the day. After the race, she said:
This is the shortest Paralympic time trial we’ve ever had and I think it’s a real shame because you don’t get to showcase parasport in the way that you want to. I’m very happy. I’m over the moon. But I know that there’s always ways to improve things.
Read Paul MacInnes’s full report from Clichy-sous-bois.
Preamble
Good afternoon, and welcome to day seven of coverage of action from Paris. As ever, a busy schedule, and plenty of gold, silver and bronze to go around.
It has already been an eventful day as Dame Sarah Storey picked up her 18th Paralympic gold after winning the women’s C5 individual time trial.
And more medals will be awarded today in wheelchair tennis, athletics, powerlifting.
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