MORSi ROAStS IRAN - Kuwait Times

FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012
Records tumble
as China takes
first Games gold
LONDON: World records tumbled in the
pool and on the cycling track yesterday, as
the first day of competition at the London
Paralympics got under way and China won
the Games’ first gold medal.
At the Velodrome, seven-time
Paralympic champion Sarah Storey-who
won five swimming titles before taking two
more when she switched to cycling in 2008
— clocked a new world best 3min
32.170sec in the women’s C5 3km individual
pursuit.
The 34-year-old British cyclist’s time was
quicker than the winner of the same event
for non-disabled athletes at the UCI Track
Cycling World Cup event held at the same
venue in February.
Joanna Rowsell, who was a member of
the British women’s team that won gold in
the team pursuit at the Olympics earlier this
month, won that race in 3:32.364.
Storey, who was born without a functioning
left hand, now races against Anna
Harkowska of Poland in the final and said
the crowd had spurred her on to the record.
“I know we heard our colleagues say this
during the Olympics but it’s so hard to
explain the energy they give you. I just can’t
explain it really,” Storey told Channel 4. “On
the last lap I could hear I was on for the
record. This is everything. I’ve been working
on this in training so hard. I’m so chuffed.”
Meanwhile two other world records were
set in qualifying for the women’s C1-2-3
3km individual pursuit: Zeng Sini, a C2 rider
from China, broke the world best to book a
place in the gold medal race against
Australia’s Simone Kennedy.
Australia’s women then posted a new
world record in the C4 3km individual pursuit,
with Susan Powell qualifying quickest
in 4min 03.306sec to earn the right to meet
US rider Megan Fisher to win gold.
Kieran Modra and Scott McPhee will race
their Australian compatriots Bryce Lindores
and Sean Finning for glory in the men’s
blind and visually impaired 4km tandem
pursuit. At the Aquatics Centre, Britain’s
Jonathan Fox signalled his intent to
upgrade his 100m backstroke S7 Paralympic
silver four years ago, lowering his own previous
world best by 0:59sec to 1min 9.86sec.
The 21-year-old is now favourite for the title
after US swimmer Lantz Lamback, the
defending champion from Beijing, could
only finish 10th quickest in his heat and
failed to qualify.
New Zealand’s Sophie Pascoe then set a
new world best of 2min 28.73sec in the
women’s 200m individual medley, while
Fox’s team-mate Nyree Kindred lowered the
Paralympic record in the women’s 100m
backstroke S6 in 1min 27.96sec.
The end of a morning of swimming heats
coincided with the final of the women’s R2
10m air rifle at the Royal Artillery Barracks,
which saw China’s Zhang Cuiping win the
Games’ first gold, scoring 104.9 for an overall
score of 500.9.
Manuela Schmermund, of Germany, won
silver while New Zealand’s Natalie Smith
picked up bronze. A total of 28 medals were
up for grabs on Thursday: 15 in the pool,
five at the Velodrome in track cycling; four
in judo; two in power lifting; and two in
shooting. The day’s programme also
includes heats in archery, equestrian, goal-
Sports
ball, table tennis, sitting volleyball and
wheelchair basketball.
Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the
Games at a showpiece ceremony on
Wednesday involving more than 3,000 volunteer
and professional performers, many
of them with a disability, combining music,
dance and aerial acrobatics.
British scientist Stephen Hawking,
described by organisers as “the most
famous disabled person anywhere on the
planet”, narrated parts of the ceremony,
which was aimed at challenging perceptions
about disability and changing attitudes.
— AFP
LONDON: Members of the British team (bottom) watch the ball as they play Russia in a men’s sitting volleyball preliminary round pool A match at the 2012
Paralympics. — AP