Left: Japanese wheelchair rugby players Yukinobu Ike (left) and Daisuke Ikezaki celebrate their gold medal in Paris on Monday.
Right: Katsuya Hashimoto moves forward with a ball in the second quarter of the wheelchair rugby final in Paris on Monday.
16:52 JST, September 3, 2024
PARIS — After winning bronze at two Paralympics, Japan’s wheelchair rugby team finally reached the top. On Monday, they defeated the U.S. team 48-41 to win gold in Paris.
“Everything was great, beautiful and in such a great place. We played the best and got the best result,” said captain Yukinobu Ike, 44, who led the Japanese team. “It was the best moment for me as an athlete.”
Wheelchair rugby is a mixed team sport played by male and female athletes. Matches are played in four quarters of eight minutes.
Eleven of the twelve members of the Japanese team played at the Tokyo Games. Even with a three-point deficit in the first quarter, they did not lose their confidence in each other, nor their well-coordinated coordination. Their defense was solid, they tripped up their opponents and turned the game around in the second quarter.
Ike and young ace Katsuya Hashimoto, 22, scored plenty of tries, while severely handicapped players such as Seiya Norimatsu, 34, and forward Kae Kurahashi, 33, showed their defensive skills.
Ike, competing in his third consecutive tournament, held the gold medal aloft in his right hand after it had been placed around his neck. In March 2000, Ike lost three friends who were in his car with him in a crash that left him with burns over 75 percent of his body and required the amputation of his left leg. He expressed gratitude to his dead friends. “They gave me a miraculous moment and maybe they pushed me forward,” he said.
“People can shine with or without disabilities if they have dreams and goals,” Norimatsu said, his voice trembling. It was also his third Paralympics.
“I never got to make my dreams come true, but now I can tell people that I did. That makes me happier than anything,” he said.
