Winter Paralympics: China’s wheelchair curling team defeat Sweden to defend gold on a record medal day for the host nation
- While the team had a disappointing start to their competition, they bounced back with a 12-game win streak to defend gold against Sweden
- Canada’s Brian McKeever raced into the history books and grabbed his 16th Paralympic gold medal in cross-country skiing on Saturday
Defending champion China bagged the wheelchair curling gold at the Beijing 2022 Paralympics Winter Games on Saturday after defeating Sweden 8-3 at the National Aquatics Centre.
On a day that saw 11 additional podium spots for China, including four gold medals, the country’s wheelchair curling team defended their title in spectacular style to take the game 8-3 after just seven ends.
After China took an early lead, Sweden managed to capitalise on a mistake and level the scoring, but Haitao Wang and his team took control of the match after picking up an impressive four points in the fifth end. Despite a spirited comeback from the Swedes, it was not enough to clinch the gold.
The team had a disappointing start to their competition, blaming their first two losses on nerves and pressure to perform in front of a home crowd, but they bounced back with a 12-game win streak on their way to the gold medal.
Day eight of the Paralympics may go down as one of China’s best yet. The country now has an impressive 58 medals, including 18 gold.
On Saturday cross-country skier Yang Hongqiong was among gold medallists, clinching the women’s middle distance sitting gold ahead of Japan’s Oskana Masters and China’s Jing Ma with silver and bronze respectively. This is Yang’s third Paralympic title after long distance and sprint sitting.
China’s Para cross-country skier Mao Zhongwu notched the men’s middle distance sitting gold with his teammate Zheng Peng taking the silver, while Giuseppe Romele of Italy pocketed the bronze.
