A German table tennis duo caused a surprise in the semi-finals. The wheelchair basketball players had no chance against a gold contender despite prominent support. The track cyclists were unlucky.
Stephanie Grebe and Juliane Wolf hugged each other in celebration. The German table tennis duo defeated the Norwegian world number one Merethe Tveiten and Aida Husic Dahlen 3:2 in a spectacular match and will play for gold on Friday evening (8 p.m.). “If we’re in the final at the Paralympics, then we want to win,” said Wolf, who has a movement disorder.
Their opponents are the two Chinese women Huang Wenjuan and Jin Yucheng. “We have never played against this duo before,” said Grebe. “We’ll see what we can do. We’ll eat something now and then probably fall dead into bed.” The doubles team had already secured a medal by making it into the top four.
The competition day for Grebe, who has a prosthetic leg and plays with an arm attachment, started anything but well. After a racket check shortly before the quarter-final match against Morgan Caillaud and Lucie Hautière from France (3:1), the 36-year-old had to change her equipment and play with her second racket because the pimples were too long. The duel began with a 15-minute delay because Grebe had to screw the second racket onto her prosthesis. “That was quite a highlight,” she said with an ironic undertone.
Wheelchair basketball players have no chance
The presence of Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier did not help the German wheelchair basketball players against fellow favorites Great Britain. Coach Michael Engel’s team lost 55:76 (25:32), although they had caught up in the third quarter with only a four-point deficit.
“The difference was simply that we gave away too many points, there were too many simple turnovers,” said the coach. “You can’t do that against what is probably the best team in the world at the moment.”
Two fourth places in the Vélodrome
Track cyclists Maike Hausberger and Pierre Senska narrowly missed out on bronze. Hausberger, who was born without forearms or lower legs, lost her bronze race over 3,000 meters to the Swiss Flurina Rigling, although she had initially set the pace. “I’m proud. I actually didn’t have the 3,000 meters on my list,” said the 29-year-old. Senska also lost over 3,000 meters to Spaniard Ricardo Ten Argiles and came fourth.
Paraplegic Elena Schott surprisingly missed the 50-meter freestyle swimming final. On Friday, the 35-year-old, who won three bronze medals in Tokyo three years ago, is hoping for a better result in the 200-meter individual medley.
Source: Stern
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