The wheelchair basketball players have no chance against a gold contender. A German table tennis doubles team is guaranteed a medal.
Germany started the Paralympic Games in Paris with a defeat for the wheelchair basketball team. Coach Michael Engel’s team lost 55:76 (25:32) to fellow favorites Great Britain in front of Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Matthias Güntner was the best scorer for the German team with 19 points, but was unable to prevent the setback at the start.
The table tennis doubles Stephanie Grebe and Juliane Wolf have already secured a medal with a 3:1 victory over Morgan Caillaud and Lucie Hautière from France. The duo will face the top favorites Merethe Tveiten and Aida Husic Dahlen from Norway in the semifinals this evening (6:30 p.m.).
Grebe had more problems with her racket. After a racket check shortly before the match, the 36-year-old had to change her equipment because the pimples were too long and play with her second racket. The match started with a 15-minute delay because Grebe had to screw the second racket onto her prosthesis. “That was a highlight,” she said with an ironic undertone.
Paraplegic Elena Schott suffered a setback. The swimmer from BPRSV Cottbus missed the final of the 50-meter freestyle by coming sixth in her heat. Paraplegic Tanja Scholz, on the other hand, secured her place in the final (8.46 p.m.) of the 200-meter freestyle by coming eighth. However, 40-year-old Scholz is only an outsider there.
A total of 549 medal decisions in 22 sports will be made in the French capital until September 8th. The aim of the German Disabled Sports Association is to return to the top ten nations in the medal table. The last time they finished in twelfth place was in Tokyo three years ago.
Source: Stern
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