- China sit on top of the medal table at the end of day one, breaking World Records on in the velodrome and pool
- The first ever Mongolian woman to win a Paralympic medal takes Gold in Para Taekwondo
- Nine Asian NPCs win a medal on day one.
China started the Paris Paralympic Games as they undoubtedly mean to go on, breaking two world records and picking up three medals at the Velodrome. Xiaomei WANG was in blistering form, breaking the World Record in the Women’s C1-C3 3000m Individual Pursuit in Qualifying, then breaking it again by almost 3 seconds in the final to take the Gold medal.
Zhangyu LI also broke the World Record in Qualifying in the men’s C1 3000m Individual Pursuit and went into the final in a time that was 11 seconds faster than his countryman Weicong LIANG. LI caught LIANG before the 2km mark and so took the Gold medal and the pair celebrated joyfully securing the top two podium places for their country.
There were more medals for China at the pool. Yuyan JIANG from China took gold in the Women’s 50m Freestyle S6, and set a new Paralympic Games record. JIANG won an incredible 7 gold medals at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games and is off the mark in Paris. Shortly after, her fellow country woman Yi CHEN also won Gold in the Women’s 50m Freestyle S10, breaking the World Record set by the American swimmer Christie Raleigh-Crossley earlier in the day in the process.
On winning in a world-record time Chen said: “I’m unmoved. I didn’t expect this at all. I didn’t even think I would win gold. But I’m also a very calm person to begin with. To break the world record, of course, I’m happy about that, but I’m also not thinking more. My performance in the heats was already my best yet, so I thought I’d just go for it in the final, try to get on the podium.”
Japan’s Takayuki SUZUKI won Gold in the Men’s 50m Breaststroke SB3. He won his country’s first medal in Tokyo and he’s repeated this feat in Paris. On winning this event for the first time since Beijing 2008 he said:
“I feel like I got faster than when I got a PB in 2008 when I was 21 years old. I don’t know the answer to how I did it, but probably because I believed, and all the people who supported me. The hard work for 16 years has paid off. This was what I wanted. I’m focused on winning medals, getting PBs.”
Singapore’s golden girl Pin Xiu YIP won Gold in the women’s 100m Backstroke S2. This is her sixth Paralympic gold medal across five games. Hong Kong, China’s Yui Lam CHAN took Silver in the Women’s 100m Butterfly S14, and Uzbekistan’s Muslima ODILOVA won Bronze in the Women’s 100m Butterfly S13 meaning that five Asian NPCs saw their athletes on the podium on the first day at the pool.
In Para Taekwondo, Uzbekistan’s Ziyodakhon ISAKOVA took silver in the women’s K44 -47kg contest with Thailand’s Khwansuda PHUANGKITCHA won bronze in the same event. Chinese Taipei won their first medal of the Games when Xiang Wen XIAO won bronze in the men’s K44-58kg contest. There was also joy for Zakia KHUDADADI who made headlines around the world ahead of the Tokyo Paralympic Games after she was evacuated from Afghanistan following the country’s takeover by the Taliban. Now competing for the Refugee Paralympic team she won bronze in the Women’s K44 -47kg event. In the women’s K44 -52kg
gold medal contest Mongolia’s Surenjav ULAMBAYAR faced Iran’s Zahra RAHMI. The 24-year-old Mongolian competing in her first Paralympic Games came out on top, making her the first female Paralympic medallist for Mongolia.
At the end of the day, the medal table for Asian nations looks like this
| Day 1 | |||||
| Rank on overall table | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | China | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 8 | Japan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | Mongolia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | Singapore | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 18 | Uzbekistan | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 20 | Hong Kong, China | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 20 | Islamic Republic Iran | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 25 | Thailand | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 25 | Chinese Taipei | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Tomorrow will see the first medals awarded in Para Athletics and Shooting Para Sport as well as more medals in Para Track Cycling, Para Swimming, Para Table Tennis and Para Taekwondo.
