Around the Games: Robinson shines and Choong wins thriller

Swimming and cycling led the ParalympicsGB medal charge on day two in Paris but there was plenty of excitement across the French capital.

Here’s our look at what happened around the Games on Friday…

Robinson leads the charge

ParalympicsGB’s wheelchair rugby squad lead their group going into a clash with hosts France on Saturday.

Stuart Robinson scored 25 tries in a 55-53 victory against Denmark, their second win in as many days.

Robinson said after the game: “It’s pretty amazing to play in this environment.

“I try to do my best to ignore the crowd because that creates its own pressure but sometimes you need to feed off it and you have to take the excitement and buzz off it and when we play France tomorrow it will be an electric atmosphere.”

Haggo and Taggart into last eight

On the boccia court, Kayleigh Haggo stormed to a 6-2 win over Portugal’s Ana Correia to make it through to the women’s BC2 quarter-finals.

“I feel amazing,” she said. “To get the first win, I can’t believe it, I’m so happy.

“I played really well yesterday so I was quite confident going into this game that if I played that well again I’d get the win. I did just that.”

She will be joined in the last eight by Claire Taggart, who had already sealed qualification when she played Cristina Goncalves.

The number one seed lost 4-3 and will play Hong Kong’s Yeung Hiu Lam in the next stage of competition.

A couple of hours earlier, Stephen McGuire took his second emphatic victory of the Games with a 7-1 win against Ukraine’s Artem Kolinko.

In the Women’s BC3 competition, Sally Kidson lost 6-1 to Australia’s Jamieson Leeson.

Closing out the night on the boccia courts in the Men’s BC3 competition, William Arnott won 7-1 against South Africa’s Karabo Morapedi.

Teammate Patrick Wilson lost 7-2 in the same classification against Australia’s Daniel Michel.

Choong opens singles campaign successfully

Rachel Choong won her first singles match in the SH6 classification against Peru’s Rubi Milagros Fernandez Vargas. With three close games, she took the last winning 2-1.

“I’m really pleased to get my first Paralympic win,” she said. “I can see why people dedicate four years of their lives to get here.

“I have dedicated my last three years to get here and I’m so pleased to go out here, represent ParalympicsGB and try my hardest to put in good performances.”

In the SH6 men’s singles, Jack Shephard hailed “one of the best matches of my life” after coming through a thriller against Vitor Tavares in three games.

Krysten Coombs also earned a vital victory, beating Indonesia’s Subhan Subhan in a decider, and Dan Bethell booked his place in the SL3 men’s singles knockout stages with a 21-9, 21-4 win over Daisuke Fujihara.

Macqueen continues progress

Archer Nathan Macqueen beat Martin Doric of Slovakia 142-138 to soar into the ¹⁄₈ elimination round of the men’s individual compound.

There was an unexpected surprise for Macqueen halfway through the match when he spotted his wife and son, Casey, in the stands and was unable to hold back the tears on Esplanade des Invalides.

“It feels like I’ve won the Paralympics and I’ve only won my first match,” he said. “But here’s to the rest of it, we’ll put on a good show.”

Macqueen will return to take on Hadi Nori of Iran in the ¹⁄₈ elimination round on Sunday.

In the women’s competition, Phoebe Pine Paterson beat Ecuador’s Diana Gonzabay Guaman 142-141and will join teammate Jodie Grinham in the ¹⁄₈ elimination round.

Munro reflective

Beth Munro missed out on a second Paralympic taekwondo medal after two losses at the Grand Palais.

A loss in the quarter-finals set up a repechage clash with Lisa Kjaer, the fighter who had beaten her to gold at Tokyo 2020 and the Dane did so again in Paris.

Munro said: “It was nice to have her here and come against her again and put some things into play. I just didn’t do well enough today and I’m happy to admit that.

“I’ll take it with me and move forward.”

Ward and Bartram through

At Roland-Garros, Dahnon Ward and Ben Bartram made it through to the men’s singles second round.

Ward beat Morocco’s Said Himam 6-3 7-6 while Bartram overcame home favourite Guilhem Laget 6-4 6-4.

In the women’s doubles, Abbie Breakwell and Lucy Shuker were beaten 2-6 4-6 by Dutch pair Jinte Bos and Lizzy de Greef.

The result did little to take the shine off Breakwell’s Paralympic debut and she relished performing at the home of French tennis.

“No words can describe it really,” she said. “It’s absolutely amazing.

“I was trying not to get lost in the hallways, I got lost so many times. Lucy really helped trying to guide me round it. I’ve been to Wimbledon from a very young age and I’ve watched Alfie and Gordon and Lucy play in front of these crowds going ‘I really want to be there one day’ and to finally have it, its amazing.”

Jeffery and Cockbill miss out

In the mixed 10m air rifle standing SH2 qualification, both Tim Jeffery and Ryan Cockbill missed out on a spot in the final.

Jeffery finished in 10th place 0.1 points off a qualifying place with a score of 630.7 and Cockbill finished in 18th with a score of 628.8.