The exploits of the Blues in blind football, the surprise of Lucas Didier in table tennis, more gold in cycling… The recap of Saturday’s day

The penultimate day of competition allowed France to add nine new medals to its tally.

The time for the closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games is fast approaching. To achieve the goal of being among the top 8, the French must finish strong. On this penultimate day of competition, Saturday, September 7, the Blues won nine new charms, including two in gold.

French Day: From Surprise Money for Young Lucas Didier to the Cécifoot Blues’ Consecration

The French blind football team pushed the remake of the final of the last World Cup to the point of ending in a penalty shootout (1-1 at the end of regulation time). Author of the opening goal against Argentina, captain Frédéric Villeroux offered the winning goal during the third penalty shootout for the Tricolores. On the previous attempt, French goalkeeper Alessandro Bartolomucci had stopped Nahuel Heredia’s shot. Enough to make the Tour Eiffel stadium and its more than 10,000 spectators explode with joy.

700 metres away, on the tatamis of the Arena Champ-de-Mars, the French judokas had experienced mixed fortunes earlier on Saturday. Coming with the stated and sole objective of winning the -90 kg (J2 category, visually impaired athletes), the two-time reigning world champion Helios Latchoumanaya lost in the final against the Ukrainian Oleksandr Nazarenko. Huge disappointment. A little earlier, Cyril Jonard (-90 kg, J1) completed his Paralympic record. After gold in Athens and silver in Beijing, the 48-year-old deaf and visually impaired judoka won bronze and moved the public with his celebrations of joy.

Same metal for Jason Grandry (+90 kg, J1), who was participating in his first Games. On the other hand, Nacer Zorgani failed to win to climb on the box in +90 kg (J2 category) and Prescillia Lézé lost in the repechage final.

On Saturday, the surprise came from table tennis. Did Lucas Didier want to show that his big brother Ugo, a triple medal-winning swimmer, would not be the only one in the family to shine at the Games? The table tennis player won silver after taking out “the match of his life” to reach the final, before losing to the world number 1.

Earlier in the day, the French cyclists continued their medal sweep. While they were aiming for the title, Thomas Peyroton-Dartet and Alexandre Léauté had to settle for silver and bronze in the road race (category C1-3). Finally, in the last event, the French completed their prolific tally (21 medals in total on the road) with a final victory in the team relay (H1-5), with Mathieu Bosredon, Florian Jouanny and Joseph Fritsch.

On the Vaires-sur-Marne basin, Rémy Boullé did not manage to do better than in Tokyo and returned once again with bronze in canoeing, in the 200 m KL1 category. As for the French flag bearer Nantenin Keïta, she took 6th place (57″43) in the 400 m (T13 category) on the Stade de France track. The Frenchwoman was very disappointed with her performance, she who had won the title over this distance in Rio

Performance of the day: the Jordanian weightlifter Abdelkareem Mohmmad Ahmad Khattab breaks his world record

Why improve your world record by one kilo, once you have won gold, when you can increase it by ten? Jordanian weightlifter Abdelkareem Mohmmad Ahmad Khattab crushed the competition by lifting a 270kg barbell in the bench press, 41 more than his closest pursuer, China’s Jixiong Ye. Competing in the men’s up to 97kg category, the Paralympic champion then tried in vain to master a 280kg barbell.

Today’s great story: Rihards Snikus, the Latvian rider and DJ who makes his horse dance

With a mount as aptly named, King of the Dance, and turntables as a hobby, the title in the freestyle par-dressage event to music could not escape him. Crowned in the individual par-dressage event (grade I) on Tuesday, Latvian Rihards Snikus, nicknamed DJ Richy Rich, won on Saturday by making his gelding dance to the hit The black shirt Juanes. Enough to further boost his Paralympic record, already filled with two silver medals won in Tokyo.

The man who loves to make horses dance as much as he loves to make night owls dance in nightclubs and at sporting events, suffers from cerebral palsy. The latter is manifested by uncontrolled movements and an inability to speak. Horse riding allows him to gain balance and strengthen his muscles.