Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Neil and Lora Fachie targeted along with pilot Corinne Hall
Cyclists ‘shaken up’ by incident on opening day of worlds
Three members of the British para-cycling track team were robbed of their silver medals and other possessions in a mugging after the opening day of the world championships in Rio de Janeiro.
Lora and Neil Fachie, who are both double Paralympic champions, and pilot Corinne Hall were left shaken but otherwise unharmed by the incident, which occurred as they made their way back to their accommodation in the Brazilian city.
Just nine weeks after breaking his back during a horror bike accident, this Sydney teen is ready to show the world what he can do
Fletcher Crowley is in many ways like any other 17-year-old boy growing up on Sydney’s northern beaches.
He loves hanging out with his mates, cracking jokes, riding bikes and being outdoors. He’s just started year 12. He’s close with his mum and dad, who he says are “so chill” – although he was still nervous about them finding out he had a tattoo.
English sprinter Jonnie Peacock edited out of promotional content, along with footage of Oscar Pistorius, after complaint
The Paralympic athlete Jonnie Peacock is among several public figures who have asked to be removed from the promotional video released by the Conservative MP Penny Mordaunt as she launched her party leadership bid.
On Sunday morning, Mordaunt, the MP for Portsmouth North, posted the video on her Twitter account with the caption “Our leadership has to change. It needs to become a little less about the leader and a lot more about the ship.”
Duke and Duchess of Sussex will address spectators in The Hague accompanied by Netflix film crew
The Duke of Sussex took part in a driving challenge as the Invictus Games got under way on Saturday. Ahead of the opening ceremony, he and the Duchess of Sussex joined a junior driving contest where they were driven round a circuit of miniature Land Rovers.
The couple are expected to speak on stage at the Invictus Games opening ceremony on Saturday night.
As the Winter Paralympics open, a swimmer born with no arms calls for a global commitment to the millions with disabilities
In most cases, the birth of a child is a celebration. It is an opportunity to rejoice in the excitement of what that child will be or could become – that child is a gift. But when I was born, my family cried. They cried with sorrow and they cried with fear. Because those, like me, born with a disability, are not perceived as a gift or as special, they are considered different. In many parts of the world, different is not considered a good thing: it can even be perilous.
I was born in Afghanistan with no arms. As a child, while my family supported me, the world around me did not. I was seven when this realisation hit me – my life was going to be different. I was bullied at school and made to feel inferior. It was only when I discovered swimming that I finally felt accepted. The water made me feel safe, and it was swimming that made me feel alive; it also made me realise that even with my disability, I had a gift. That’s when I set out on a journey that would break down barriers and show others that people with disabilities can be active and can fulfil their potential.
A revolt among competing nations has forced the International Paralympic Committee to reverse its original decision and ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from this week’s Winter Games.
On Wednesday the IPC had said that Russian and Belarusian athletes would be allowed to take part in competition in Beijing, under a neutral banner and with no place on the medal table. Less than 24 hours after the announcement, however, the president of the IPC, Andrew Parsons, announced a u-turn following protests and a threat of a boycott from national participating committees (NPCs).
Wheelchair tennis: Hold your horses. Reid breaks back, coming to the net and punching a classy forehand volley past Kunieda. That was some lovely play from the Brit with his back to the wall. There was a beautiful, deft drop shot off the half-volley earlier in the game. He’s trying to gee up himself. It’s 4-2. Reid to serve.
Wheelchair tennis: It’s going to be tough for GordonReid from here. The Brit is now down a second break, trailing 4-1 against Shingo Kunieda of Japan.
Road cycling: Sarah Storey eclipsed all competition to win her second gold medal in the C5 time trial on Tuesday morning. In doing so she also drew level with the swimmer Mike Kenny as the most successful British Paralympian of all time.
The Dame finished a minute and a half clear of teammate Crystal Lane-Wright and, at points, was catching the tail of the men’s race at the Fuji International Speedway circuit, so dominant was her performance. That is standard for Storey, who spoke afterwards of the “single-mindedness” that has brought her 16 gold medals to this point and the prospect of another, a record-breaking 17th, in two days’ time.
Athletics: Another Aussie success on Tuesday morning for James Turner, who won the men’s 400m (T36). Turner finished well ahead in 52.80 seconds, pushing himself so close to the limit he required medical attention afterwards (all was fine).
“I’m quite emotional right now,” he said. “A lot of work has been done by a lot of people to get me here. The last 50 of a 400 is always hard – the heat and the effort. My muscles started tightening up, I started losing control of them, but I was able to hold it together with my training.”
Wheelchair rugby: Japan lead 45-36 at the final break and it’s very difficult to see Australia recovering in the time they have left. The Steelers were never on the front foot against the host nation and barring some kind of outrageous late drama it looks as if the Steelers will leave a Paralympics without a medal for the first time since 2004 and just the third time since the sport was introduced in 1996.
Wheelchair rugby: The Steelers are in a hole. A big one. Japan lead 41-33 with two minutes to play in the third quarter and Australia’s defensive errors are letting them down.
Powerlifting: Another Chinese gold with Liu Lei lifting 198kg in the men’s -65kg division. Amir Jafari Arangeh (Iran) takes silver, Hocine Better (Algeria) bronze.
Men’s 100 metres: The T47 category follows immediately, with a Brazilian gold-bronze double. Petrucio Ferreira dos Santos wins, outside his own world record time of 10.53, with Washington Junior third. Between them is Michal Derus of Poland.
Some handy background reading on Australia’s early gold medal hopes who are due to compete in not too long:
Australia has the chance to snare the first two gold medals of the Tokyo Paralympics after Paige Greco and Emily Petricola posted new cycling world records to qualify for their respective finals.
Thanks Geoff. I will indeed travel with you. To the track, for sure. But first, to other destinations yonder in the Paralympics field of dreams. But before that, and because Tokyo 2020 isn’t really Tokyo 2020 without a Covid scare, this from the Guardian’s man on the ground Paul MacInnes:
Two more athletes have tested positive for Covid 19 in the Paralympic village, with officials awaiting information to confirm if a cluster of infection has broken out.
The news comes as ParalympicsGB confirmed a member of their coaching staff, part of the wheelchair tennis team, has been confirmed as having the virus and is now in isolation.
Daily results published by the Tokyo Paralympics organising committee found that 16 positive cases had been recorded amongst the extensive testing programme. Five of those individuals were in the Village, where athletes, coaching and support staff are supposed to be within a Covid secure bubble.
The rest of the positive results were found amongst contractors and games personnel, while one member of the media tested positive.
Tokyo 2020 spokesperson Masa Takaya said the results would now be referred to specialists.
“It seems that those with the positive cases come from different sports and different countries”, he told Inside the Games. “Whether or not there is a cluster should come from the advice from the specialists. We will continue to listen to the advice and try to provide accurate information to the media.”
ParalympicsGB said that a staff member had tested positive for the virus before arriving at the village after testing negative upon arrival in Japan and at a training camp.
The GB chef de mission, Penny Briscoe, said “we fully respect and continue to adhere” to the Tokyo 2020 Covid protocols. British officials are now tracing the individual’s recent contacts.
ParalympicsGB also confirmed that a member of the table tennis team, David Wetherill, has been deselected for breaching his team’s code of conduct. The organising body said they would be providing no further information while an arbitration process was conducted.
The mood lifts and so does the tempo as volunteers in bright costumes dance their way through a colourful routine. It’s quite a sight. The performers are, apparently, invoking the Japanese tradition of karakuri.
The flag is raised as the national anthem of Japan plays.
The tone has been one of quiet reflection so far, which is fitting given what we have been through over the last 18 months and given the situation in Japan at the moment – as my colleague Justin McCurry has been reporting this week:
There will be a sense of the familiar when the Paralympics begin on Tuesday. Senior Games officials, including the International Paralympic Committee president, Andrew Parsons, and a returning Thomas Bach will witness the start of the second instalment of the most controversial Games in recent history. In his role as honorary patron, Emperor Naruhito will declare the event officially open at a near-empty national stadium in Tokyo.
But less than a month after the delayed 2020 Olympics ended in sporting success for the home country and repeated claims by government and organisers that they had passed off “safely and securely”, the Japan preparing to greet 4,400 Paralympians will be very different from the one that reluctantly welcomed the Olympic family in late July.
Nilofar Bayat begins rebuilding her life in Spain after days of fear for her life under Taliban rule
When the Taliban entered Kabul, Nilofar Bayat, the captain of Afghanistan’s female national wheelchair basketball team, knew she had to get out.
“There were so many videos of me playing basketball. I had been active in calling for women’s rights and the rights of women with disabilities,” she said. “If the Taliban found out all of this about me, I knew they would kill me.”
The six-time gold medallist is campaigning for WeThe15 – a global human rights movement that will feature at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics
Ellie Cole is a bonafide Australian sporting champion. Yet as other women athletes, or sportspeople of colour, or other minorities can attest, success is no shield sometimes.
Lai Chi-wai spent 10 hours pulling himself up the tower to raise money for spinal cord patients
Lai Chi-wai has become the first in Hong Kong to climb more than 250 metres of a skyscraper while strapped into a wheelchair, as he pulled himself up for more than 10 hours on Saturday to raise money for spinal cord patients.
The 37-year-old climber, who was paralysed from the waist down in a car accident 10 years ago, could not make it to the top of the 300 metre-tall Nina Tower on the Kowloon peninsula.
60-year-old was crossing from California to Hawaii
Madsen was also a campaigner for disability and LBGT rights
Angela Madsen, whose remarkable life took in a spell in the Marines, a string of gold medals and record setting rowing journeys, has died while attempting a solo journey from California to Hawaii.
The 60-year-old’s death was confirmed by her wife, Deb Madsen, in a Facebook post on Tuesday. “With extreme sadness,” she wrote, “I must announce that Angela Madsen will not complete her solo row to Hawaii.”
Tobias Weller raises £60,000 for charity by walking up and down Sheffield road for 70 days
There were cheers from physically distanced crowds as nine-year-old Tobias Weller, a boy with autism and cerebral palsy, completed his remarkable challenge to walk a marathon to raise money for charity.
Nicknamed Captain Tobias, he has been walking up and down the Sheffield road where he lives for 70 days. He initially hoped to raise £500. A flood of support led to him raising the target to £30,000. On Sunday evening the total stood at more than £60,000.