Paralympics: Seto, Hirose judo golds lead Japan’s 9-medal rush
Source: The Mainichi
PARIS (Kyodo) — Judoka Yujiro Seto and Junko Hirose won their first career golds as Japan topped the podium in four events and claimed nine medals Friday at the Paris Paralympics.
Seto, a 24-year-old with congenitally weak eyesight, beat Giorgi Kaldani of Georgia with two waza-ari for an ippon to win top honors in the men’s J2 73-kilogram class.
Hirose, with reduced vision due to a connective tissue disease, won the women’s J2 57-kg division by defeating Uzbekistan’s Kumushkhon Khodjaeva with a straight ippon.
In wheelchair tennis, Yui Kamiji won Japan’s first women’s singles gold medal. The 30-year-old beat top seed Diede de Groot of the Netherlands 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, and became the first Japanese to capture singles and doubles tennis golds at the same games.
Tokito Oda and Takuya Miki settled for the men’s doubles silver after losing 6-2, 6-1 to Britain’s Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid in the final.
Swimmer Keiichi Kimura retained his title in the men’s S11 100-meter butterfly for those with extremely low visual acuity or no light perception. It was his second gold in Paris, having previously won the 50 freestyle, while Uchu Tomita won bronze.
Takayuki Suzuki, who has congenital limb deficiency, grabbed silver in the men’s S4 50 freestyle for his fourth podium finish this summer, and his 14th career Paralympics medal.
As of Friday, Japan had 12 golds in Paris. Its high is 17, in 1988 in Seoul and 2004 in Athens, where it reached its highest overall medal total of 52.
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