It will be a repeat of the RIO 2016 final with Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid face the defending champions from France, Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer.

Both teams enjoyed straight sets victories on Day 7 to set up the final.

The swimming star took part in the Women's 100m Breaststroke B7 Heat 1 on day 8 of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games at Tokyo Aquatics Centre.

Long is looking to add to her career total of 26 Paralympic medals, 14 of which are gold.

The Team USA cyclist let the tears flow as she listened to the national anthem after her win in the cycling time trial H4-5.

On day eight she will go for her second gold in two days as she competes in the road race.

Sam Grewe wrote that a Japanese man handed him the letter, in which he explained that the Team USA star was an inspiration to his own family, as his son had had the same operation as the athlete.

“A local Japanese man just handed me this note shortly after I arrived at the track to compete. Win or lose, this is what it’s all about. This makes it all worth it,” Grewe tweeted.

As we enter the second week of the Tokyo Games, here’s a look at the remaining schedule for the Paralympics:

One too many Chinese takeaways nearly scuppered Reece Dunn’s Paralympic dream.

In early 2021 he was lying in bed until midday – eight hours before swimmers normally stir – and putting on lockdown pounds with no racing in sight.

“When I’m not competing, I’ve got nothing to train for so mentally I can’t be bothered,” said the Plymouth star.

“I’m up at five most mornings, I’m a morning person even on my days off, but I couldn’t get out of bed. My mental health wasn’t all there.

“I love a good Chinese and I was a sucker for that.”

More from the GB swimmer following his third gold medal of the Tokyo Games:

It is the pinnacle of any Paralympic athlete’s career. Winning a gold, silver or bronze medal is the reward for years of sacrifice and gruelling training sessions hidden from the public gaze.

And now for the first time Team USA athletes at this year’s Paralympic Games will earn an equal payout for winning medals in Tokyo.

For Paralympians are now being paid the same amount of money for winning medals as Olympic athletes, after the passing of a new rule in September 2018.

It is the first time that the equal payments will be in place for the games, although the rule was applied retroactively to the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.

Here’s what each Paralympic athlete earns for winning a medal in Tokyo:

David Weir wants more depth in Paralympic wheelchair racing, claiming the sport is in danger of stagnating.

The six-time Paralympic champion made his Games debut as a teenager in Atlanta and brought the curtain down on his track career with a last place finish in a dramatic T54 1,500m final, which saw the top six all dip under the world record time.

However, Weir – who competes in this weekend’s marathon and plans to continue racing on the road – is not sure he’ll leave the sport in a better shape than he found it.

I think the International Paralympic Committee needs to step their game up a little bit,” he said. “I just feel some things need to change.

“I just don’t see them moving forward or it’s not moving forward quickly enough. I just feel like they need to get more athletes on board, they are setting their standards so ridiculously high that their athletes can’t qualify.”

More here:

American Dallas Wise didn’t want to approach Afghan Hossain Rasouli, who escaped the fall of Kabul to compete at the Paralympics.

“Honestly, we don’t really know the guy so we’re not going to talk to him,” said the long jumper. “I’m not sure if he can understand me. With a lot of countries here, I try to talk to him but sometimes they don’t really understand English.”

Rasouli greeted the Olympic Stadium with a smile and a wave, to the sound of total silence apart from the clicking of the shutters of every photographer who could gain entry.

His big moment came as the Taliban let off fireworks to celebrate their return to Kabul, with the last American plane having departed and their 20-year military presence now at an end.

The 26-year-old finished 13th and last in the T54 long jump, registering legal jumps of 4.37m, 4.21 and then 4.46 in the third round.

Here is one of the biggest stories from the Tokyo Paralympics:

When it comes to setting an example in these uncertain times then tennis certainly has work to do.

From Novak Djokovic’s spell as superspreader-event host to vaccine rates on the WTA and ATP Tour that currently stubbornly stand at less than 50 percent, player after player, from Stefanos Tsitsipas to Aryna Sabalenka, doing their best not to lead by example.

Just imagine the moaning if they were trying to win gold in Tokyo from isolation?

And yet that’s just the challenge facing Great Britain’s Gordon Reid, a burden he is taking on without complaint and winning match after match in the process. As preparations go for a double gold medal bid it couldn’t be further removed from the high-performance world of marginal gains.

Full article here: