It was game day 4 for the women in Group B at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games and the two games were like day and night – it started with an early morning nailbiter, followed by a 72 points blow-out.
Up until the third quarter it looked like it’ll be an easy morning for Team USA as they were up 23-7 against China with 18 minutes to go. That suddenly changed as with 7 minutes to go in the third, China embarked on a 12-4 journey – cutting USA’s lead little by little. With 2:18 left in the Game, it was Xuemei Zhang (15pts) who gave China the first lead of the game from the free-throw line. For the remaining two minutes, it was an open battle and even though Lindsey Zurbrugg (15pts) netted an important 3-pointer with 38 seconds to go China clinched a 41-42 victory. They are now 4-0 in the competition and lead Group B after beating the Rio Gold Medalists (USA) and the current Wheelchair Basketball World Champion (Netherlands) in the group stage.
As for the second game in Group B, we saw a Spanish team that came back strongly after losing their first two games. From the tip-off on, they were on a mission as they went 4-24 in quarter 1 and 0-23 in quarter 2. After 40 minutes the scoreboard indicated a historic 80-8 W for Spain over Algeria. Spain could not have picked a better timing for this historic win as their first-ever Paralympic victory also secures them their first ever Paralympic quarter-finals appearance.
For a full wheelchair basketball schedule and results click here.
Pictures: Shingo Ito X-1
