Tokyo Paralympics, day 5 wrap: Britain’s first-ever wheelchair rugby gold, new record for Cockroft

Afghanistan’s athletes were in tears when they finally arrived at the Tokyo Paralympics, officials said, as Britain’s wheelchair rugby team won one of 63 golds up for grabs on Super Sunday.

Afghanistan’s Zakia Khudadadi and Hossain Rasouli were evacuated to France last weekend from the Taliban-controlled country in a “major global operation”, the International Paralympic Committee said.

“The meeting at the athletes’ village was extremely emotional. There were lots of tears from everyone in the room,” said IPC spokesperson Craig Spence.

Spence said the Afghanistan flag appearing at Tuesday’s Opening Ceremony had been the “first step to keep the door open” to the athletes and their arrival was “a very strong message of hope to many others around the world”.

Khudadadi will compete in the women’s -49kg K44 taekwondo on Thursday. Sprinter Rasouli will take part in the men’s T47 long jump on Tuesday having arrived too late for his favoured T47 100m.

“As you can imagine after a very turbulent week, both athletes were exhausted following their flight last night,” added Spence.

Day 5 of the Games brought a first-ever wheelchair rugby gold for Britain, who beat the United States 54-49 in the final.

The Brits had never previously won a medal in the event, but a heroic effort edged out the Americans,…

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