Dutch tennis queen supreme at Paralympics

LONDON (AFP) –

Netherlands’ Esther Vergeer celebrates with her gold medal after winning the women’s singles wheelchair tennis final during the London 2012 Paralympic Games at the Olympic Park. The Dutch wheelchair tennis star struck gold again with her 470th straight victory.

Dutch wheelchair tennis star Esther Vergeer struck gold again with her 470th straight victory, as Iraq’s cartwheeling Ahmed Naas claimed a javelin silver at the London 2012 Paralympics on Friday.

There were medals galore at the Games, with the wheelchair basketball, goalball and sitting volleyball tournaments coming to a climax on the penultimate full day of competition.

The women’s singles title was never destined for anyone other than Vergeer, who has not lost a singles match since 2003.

“I know the day I will lose will come but I don’t know when,” the 31-year-old Vergeer said after beating compatriot Aniek van Koot 6-0, 6-3 on the blue hardcourts of Eton Manor in east London for her sixth Paralympics gold medal.

“I like the game, so I will continue playing, but for how long I have no clue.”

In the Olympic Stadium, China’s Wang Zhiming added the men’s javelin gold medal to the shot and discus titles he won earlier in the Games in the F40 dwarfism category, throwing a world record 47.95m.

Iraq’s Ahmed Naas reacts after a throw in the men’s javelin throw F40 final during the athletics competition at the London 2012 Paralympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in east London on September 7. Naas won the hearts of the crowd, cartwheeling for joy en route to claiming the silver medal and parading the Iraqi flag.

But it was Iraq’s Naas who won the hearts of the crowd, cartwheeling for joy en route to claiming the silver medal and parading the Iraqi flag with compatriot Wildan Nukhailawi who took bronze in a final which saw nine throws beating the previous world record of 40.74m.

In the Paralympics-only sport of goalball, Japan breached China’s impressive defence to claim a 1-0 victory in the women’s final at the Copper Box, Akiko Adachi scoring the only goal.

Meanwhile Australia were to take on on Germany in the women’s wheelchair basketball final at the North Greenwich Arena, while the United States face China in the sitting volleyball women’s final at the ExCeL exhibition centre.

Great Britain’s Josie Pearson competed in the wheelchair rugby at Beijing 2008 but her switch to athletics paid dividends when she won gold in the women’s F51/52/53 discus.

“Team sport just wasn’t for me. I wanted to get back in the individual side. Everything’s paid off,” she said. “I’m Paralympic champion. It’s the culmination of so many years of hard work.”

She took up disability sport to help her recover from the car crash she had aged 17, which killed her boyfriend.

“It’s been a massive part of my recovery. I was very sporty before my accident. And I knew that after my accident I wanted to get back into sport. It’s played a huge role.”

South Africa’s Oscar Pistorius was facing the last chance to salvage his Paralympic Games, after losing two of his three individual sprint titles in spectacular fashion.

The 25-year-old “Blade Runner”, the undisputed star of Paralympic sport after last month becoming the first double-amputee to compete in the Olympics, goes in the heats of his specialist event, the T44 400m, in the last race of the night in the Olympic Stadium.

With personal best of 45.39 seconds and the only athlete in the field clocking under 50 seconds, Pistorius should qualify with ease and will be favourite for Saturday’s final, which brings the curtain down on the athletics programme.

Pistorius said he was “desperate” to retain his 400m title.