Paralympics Beijing, Ukraine flies in the medal table with three golds. Bertagnolli 6th downhill

Almost a sign of destiny. The Paralympics opens in the name of Ukraine also from a sporting point of view. Already at the opening ceremony all the attention was for the parade of the nation that is undergoing the Russian invasion. The first day of competitions was dominated by Ukrainian athletes, who rose to first place in the medal table with three gold, three silver and one bronze medals, all won in biathlon. Gold was won by Grygorii Vovchynskyi and Oksana Shyshkova in the 6 km standing, while Vitali Lukianenko in the 6 km VI visually impaired (athletes with visual impairments), even led an all-Ukrainian podium, with silver for Oleksandr Kazik and the bronze for Dmytro Suiarko.

“For my country”

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Touching the words of Vojchynskyi, a native of the Kiev area: “It was difficult for me when the war started, I didn’t understand what happened and I cried every day. What can I do but dedicate this race to my Ukraine, to our people. Stop the war! I had a duty to give everything for Ukraine. I thought about the war, my country, my people, my president. I love Ukraine. I love sport, but here I raced thinking about the present and the future of my nation. ” The president of the Paralympic Committee of Kiev, Valeriy Sushkevych, who made the entire parade of the Ceremony with his fist raised as a lottery sign, said that the presence of the representative in Beijing is “a symbol that Ukraine is alive” and is a “miracle” that is present at the races. On a historic day not only for Ukrainian sport, the gold of the American Oksana Masters, born in Ukraine and adopted by an American teacher, in the Parabiathlon sprint sitting also came. Masters is a veteran of the Games having also participated in the summer ones.

Azzurri

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A debut without particular rings instead for Italy. The Azzurri were engaged in the downhill: among the VI, sixth place for the standard-bearer, Giacomo Bertagnolli with the guide Andrea Ravelli, in a race won by the very young Austrian Johannes Aigner (guide Matteo Fleischmann); in the standing, twelfth for the newcomer Federico Pellizzari; always among the VIs, Martina Vozza went off the track (Ylenia Sabidussi guides. The adventure of the Italian national team of para ice hockey began uphill: in the inaugural match valid for Group B, Massimo Da Rin’s blues were defeated 5-0 by the Czech Republic.

Night

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In the Italian night (live on Rai2 from 3, from 8 on RaiSport) the Nordic ski and snowboard competitions also begin for Italy, with good hopes for Giuseppe Romele and Jacopo Luchini, while the super-G is expected in the Alpine. Alpine skiing, super-G from 3: VI, Martina Vozza (guide Ylenia Sabidussi) and Giacomo Bertagnolli (guide Andrea Ravelli); standing, Davide Bendotti, Federico Pelizzari; sitting, Renè De Silvestro. Nordic skiing, Long distance from 3: sitting, Giuseppe Romele and Michele Biglione. Snowboard, cross upper limb from 4: Jacopo Luchini, Riccardo Cardani, Mirko Moro. Para ice hockey, Preliminary Group B from 9.35 am: Italy vs Slovakia.