Truemors
Today marks the first day of competition at the Beijing 2008 Paralympics Games, which opened yesterday with what were yet another spectacular opening ceremonies at the Bird Nest Stadium in Beijing. Watching the broadcast of beautiful artistry and incredible visual effects displayed again at the stadium yesterday, brings back fresh (nostalgic) memories of last month’s Olympic Games. However, despite lack of wide media attention, Paralympics Games promise to be equally exciting.
The medal sets contested today were in swimming, shooting, 5-a-side football, basketball and track cycling.
The first gold medal at the games was won by Slovakia’s Veronika Vadovicova in R2-10m air rifle.
A Chinese swimmer China's Du Jianping won the first gold medal for the host nation in 100 meter freestyle.
Beijing Paralympic swimming competitions have attracted 560 athletes in 81 men's and 59 women's events.
The nine-day contest, held at the National Aquatics Centre "Water Cube", runs from September 7 to 15.
Wang Xiaofu, who won three gold medals at the Athens Paralympics four years ago, will compete in seven individual events at S 8 class and two relay races.
"I'm in good shape now and have. Nine events in a whole will be a great test for my physical limit, but I will try my best to raise our national flag as many times as I could," the 20-year-old said.
Six men's teams attended the Beijing Paralympic Football 5-a-side.
Each team must field four blind players and a sighted or visually impaired goalkeeper. Additionally, each team has a guide behind the opponent's goal to direct his teammates to shoot.
In track cycling, Britain went big with 3 out of 5 possible gold medals in the discipline today. A Canadian cyclist Jean Quevillon scored a bronze medal in one of the races.
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