Around The Games: Wells and Jeffery win bronze medals

All the updates from around the Games on day seven…

Wells completes the set

Sophie Wells completed her Paralympic medal set on a new horse with a big future.

Dressage rider Wells, 34, has four golds and four silvers from her three previous appearances at the Games and partnered Egebjerggards Samoa to third place in the individual grade V event at Versailles.

Dubbed Diana at home, she was a late replacement for Wells’s more experienced charge Don Cara M, who was ruled out due ‘a minor veterinary issue’.

Though only eight-years-old, the horse has already proven an able deputy, partnering Wells in a last-minute switch at last year’s European Championships.

“She was so brave, going into that arena. She has really surprised me all week, she has been amazing,” said Wells. “The feeling I got from riding her was just incredible.

“She just got a little bit nervous but she is only eight years old. I held her hand through the whole test and she listened to me and I couldn’t be prouder of her for that. 

“It’s not ideal to change horses and I’m really disappointed for Don Cara M’s owners. I’m just so grateful to be here. So many things happen in life and really, I’ve been really grateful to have the opportunity.”

Wells is set to compete twice more before the Games concludes in Paris on Sunday.

“I know this is just touching on what we can do, she just needs more life experience and we just haven’t competed against everybody else,” added Wells.

“Coming in, there is no point knowing what everyone else is doing because you don’t know where you are in the mix.  I’ve settled the nerves a little bit now and I’m excited about my next events.”

Jeffery ends shooting drought

Tim Jeffery showed all his fighting instincts to claim Great Britain’s first Paralympic shooting medal since London 2012.

Jeffery, who was introduced to the sport by the Scout Association aged 11, made his Paralympic debut in Rio but just missed the medals in three final appearances in Tokyo.

This time he held his nerve as Serbia’s Dragan Ristic took gold and Georgia’s Vladimir Tchintcharauli silver in Chateauroux.

“It has been a hard week but I couldn’t be happier to win my first Paralympic medal,” he said.

“It was a struggle in qualification but a good end result. The bronze medal match was one of the hardest things I’ve done in a long time.

“I had to really dig deep and really trust the work I’ve put in over the last few years. I had to trust the process and there was some determination out there.

“It’s really good having two Brits in the final, we’ve both improved on our form from Tokyo.

“It’s incredible to be able to share this with my family, especially after the disappointment of the first half of the week. Hopefully this medal is the first of many, I’m still pretty young so hopefully I’ve got plenty more Games in my future.”

Hewett and Reid into final

Wheelchair tennis men’s doubles stars Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid can empathise with that quote - available in every souvenir shop - about Paris always being a good idea.

Playing together on the red clay of Roland Garros they are unbeaten in five years, a run of dominance they’ve not matched in other Slams.

A partisan crowd on Suzanne Lenglen did their best to will the opposite but they booked their place in the Paralympic wheelchair men’s doubles final with a 6-4 6-3 victory over French fourth seeds Frederic Cattaneo and Stephane Houdet to set up a final on Friday.

“It was electric in there, we’re used to the crowd being for us but I just loved it and thrived in that atmosphere,” said Hewett.

“It was just a feeling of relief against him (Houdet), you do carry a bit of trauma when you’ve lost two Paralympic finals against the same player.

“We’re guaranteed a medal but we’ll be disappointed if we don’t come away with a gold, coming away with another silver is not really in our thoughts right now.”

Hewett is looking to secure a Golden Slam in singles too and the top seed brushed aside Dutch rival Ruben Spaargarten in his quarter-final, though Reid was beaten by Fernando Gustavo.

Davies sets up gold medal match

Rob Davies produced another great performance to reach the final of the men’s class 1 singles.

Davies got revenge on Hungary’s Endre Major, who had beaten him in the most recent European Championship final, to win in four sets.

“That’s what we’re here for - those pressure moments – and I do like them I’ve got to admit so I enjoyed it,” he said.

“Everybody said they had confidence in me and I could do it still. I’ve had a tough few years and I haven’t really got to that level where I want to be - I still probably haven’t - but I had enough today and I’ve got to try and do that again on final day.”

Aaron McKibbin went out of men’s class 8 after a quarter-final defeat to the three-time Paralympic champion Zhao Shuai from China.

Boccia mixed team run ends

David Smith, Claire Taggart and Kayleigh Haggo were beaten by Indonesia in the BC1/2 mixed team quarter-final.

They roared back from 4-0 down after two ends but their opponents took the spoils in the tie break.