In La Chapelle Arena, in Paris, the Cuban Pablo Ramirez Barrientos shone with his own light, winning the silver medal in the powerlifting of the Paralympic Games.
Ramirez Barrientos, in the 54 kg division, opened with 184 kg, but the movement was invalid. In his second attempt, together with the technical team, they decided to go up one more kilogram to try to "sneak" onto the podium.
The exercise went perfectly, and Pablo was second only to Kazakhstan's David Degtyarev (186), winner of Tokyo-2020. At the end, Pablo could not lift the 187 kg and finally, with 185, he got the second place.
Degtyarev, in his last opportunity, improved his result to 188, and became Paralympic champion. The podium was completed by China's Jinglang Yang, with 179 kg.
Pablo's medal is the fifth for the Cuban delegation (three gold medals and two silvers) and the first in this discipline in summer events. For the 27-year-old Cuban, it closes a special cycle in which he also won two titles in the World Cups of Tbilisi and Acapulco, silver and bronze medals in Pattaya, and the silver one of the Parapan American Games in Santiago de Chile.
On the other hand, the champion of that continental event, but in table paratenis, Yunier Fernández, made history by becoming the first Cuban to qualify to a final.
Fernández had already set a milestone by advancing to the semifinals, thus securing the bronze medal.
He faced Federico Falco from Italy for the pass to the title match. The first set was defined by 15-13 in favor of the Cuban, as well as the second, although with a more comfortable score of 11-6.
The European, on the ropes, was obliged to win the next two to stay alive. In the third he won by 11-4, and in the fourth by 12-10.
With everything ready for the fifth, the Cuban was more confident in every attack and scored nine points, to almost sentence Falco's aspirations. The Italian scored two points for a final score of 11-2.
The championship match is scheduled for tomorrow, against the British Robert Davies.
On Wednesday, the stellar sprinter Omara Durand began the defense of her title in the hectometer, by dominating her heat with a time of 11.87 seconds. Today she will run the semifinal.
In the mixed 50m pistol SH1 event, Cubans Alexander Reyna and Di Angelo Lóriga could not enter the group of eight finalists, placing 11th (531) and 24th (510), respectively.
Yosjaniel Hernández finished sixth in his heat of the 50-meter freestyle swimming, category s7, with a time of 30.79 seconds.
Today, in addition to Omara, paratriathletes Noraivis de las Heras (shot put f64) and Ulicer Aguilera (javelin F13) and paratriathlete Lorenzo Escalona (100 freestyle S6) will compete.
