Tokyo Olympics: Hosts Japan top of medal table after stunning table tennis triumph

By Sports Desk July 26, 2021

Another superb day for Japan saw the host nation surge to the top of the medal table at the Tokyo Olympic Games on Monday.

Japan now have eight golds after winning Olympic titles in three different sports, the most unexpected of which came in table tennis.

The mixed doubles team of Jun Mizutani and Mima Ito came from two games down to eventually prevail after seven games against China's Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen.

China won all four table tennis titles at Rio 2016 and had been expected to dominate again, only to come unstuck as Japan won the first gold in this new event.

Further joy for Japan came as 13-year-old Momiji Nishiya triumphed in the women's street skateboarding while Shohei Ono was victorious in the men's 73kg category in judo.

Second behind Japan are the United States, who took two shooting golds on day three as well as the men's 4x100m freestyle title in the pool.

China did not add to their tally of six gold medals, one fewer than the USA, having come up short in another event where they had a team of heavy favourites.

Cao Yuan and Chen Aisen were edged out in the men's 10m synchronised platform, with British divers Tom Daley and Matty Lee winning gold.

That was one of three golds for Great Britain, who moved up to fifth in the medal table thanks also to Adam Peaty retaining his 100m breaststroke title and Tom Pidcock dominating in the men's cross-country mountain bike race.

The Russian Olympic Committee sits fourth after adding three golds, the headliner being victory in the men's artistic gymnastics team all-around final. 

Meanwhile, Hidilyn Diaz made history for the Philippines, become the country's first Olympic gold medallist by prevailing in the women's 55kg weightlifting.

 

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  • Lack of funding for deaf swimmers is ‘completely isolating a whole disability’ Lack of funding for deaf swimmers is ‘completely isolating a whole disability’

    One of the UK’s fastest deaf swimmers has spent more than 1,000 days campaigning against “discriminatory” policies that deny him funding.

    Nathan Young, a holder of seven national records, is not entitled to any Government or National Lottery money to support his ambitions.

    The reason is that UK Sport, the agency which allocates funding on behalf of those entities, is focused solely on Olympic and Paralympic sports.

    As deafness on its own is not a discipline in the Paralympics, Wirral-based Young, 24, falls outside its criteria.

    He is eligible to compete in the Deaflympics – the multi-sport event for deaf athletes sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee – but Great Britain does not financially back its entrants, unlike some other countries.

    The only central funding available for solely deaf athletes is at grassroots level, with nothing for elite competitors such as Young.

    That has left him needing to work and fundraise alongside his training to ensure he is able to meet the huge outlay needed to compete on the global stage.

    For most of the last three years, he has also spent a large amount of his time running a campaign to get the parameters for funding changed, believing the current rules to be unfair.

    “At the end of the day it’s discrimination,” said Young, whose campaign passed the 1,000-day mark in February.

    “It’s completely isolating a whole disability. If I was a Paralympic swimmer, I would have been getting paid since I was 16 or 17. It could have been a career that I could have had.

    “Right now, I train, I go to the gym but all the other things I should be getting as what you would class as an elite athlete, I don’t get any of it.

    “Others have the best treatment available to them to keep them going mentally, physically and in every aspect. I should be getting physio, doing strength and conditioning but I get none of that.

    “When I’m training right now, I’m thinking I should be working. It’s not what I should be thinking about.”

    Young’s campaigning has involved giving numerous speeches and interviews as well as writing many letters and articles. He has also contacted MPs and, as part of a wider campaign with UK Deaf Sport, has even visited Parliament.

    With UK Sport funding for recent Olympic/Paralympic cycles being around £300million, it is a source of frustration for Young that not even a relatively small amount can be found for Deaflympians.

    “What we’re asking for is so little,” said Young, who might need to find around £3,000 to fund a trip to next year’s Deaflympics in Tokyo.

    “UK Deaf Sport only asked for £4million for us (deaf athletes), which is so little when there’s £300-and-something million for Olympic and Paralympic sport.

    “We’re getting the same responses. We keep pushing it and pushing it but it’s been over 1,000 days now and it’s been an exhausting journey.”

    A UK Sport statement read: “UK Sport’s remit is specifically focused on investing in sports and athletes who are eligible to compete at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

    “The Deaflympics falls outside of Olympic and Paralympic sport. We are therefore unable to fund athletes targeting this event.”

    A spokesperson for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said: “This Government is dedicated to making sport in this country accessible and inclusive for everyone, including deaf people.

    “Sport England has committed £1.2million between 2022 and 2027 to boost deaf sport at the grassroots level through widening participation and supporting the development pathway for talented athletes.”

  • Emily Campbell: Giving back is more important than winning another Olympic medal Emily Campbell: Giving back is more important than winning another Olympic medal

    Emily Campbell believes giving back to the community that supported her Olympic dreams is more important than winning another medal in Paris.

    The 29-year-old became Britain’s first female Olympic medallist in weightlifting when she claimed silver in the +87 kilograms category in Tokyo in 2021.

    She will bid for more success in Paris this summer, but Campbell is just as excited about the new ChangeMaker initiative, which will see Olympic and Paralympic stars get involved in local community causes in the two weeks after their respective Games.

     

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    The programme is a partnership between The National Lottery’s operator, Allwyn, Team GB, ParalympicsGB and UK Sport, and Campbell told the PA news agency: “We’re going to use the amazing momentum and excitement and buzz from the Games to motivate athletes to go back into their community and to do anything that they’re really passionate about.

     

    “It could be to do with sport, it could be to do with environment, whatever they feel they can make a difference in. It’s all really, really exciting.”

    Campbell’s success is very much rooted in the Nottinghamshire town of Bulwell where she grew up, and she admits she is “torn” about which project she will support.

    “There’s a lot of good things going on and it’s probably going to be hard for me to pick but I’ll probably just be out there trying to help as many as I can,” she said.

    “Everyone says it takes a village to raise a child, right, and it takes a community to make an Olympic medallist. That’s what my community did for me, from giving me free fruit and veg to supporting me when I was trying to raise money, the cobbler fixing my boots, the list goes on and on and on.

    “Everybody goes to the Olympics and everybody wants a medal but for me now it’s more about giving back and being a part of something that actually means something.

    “Instead of sitting there and saying ‘I’m an inspiration and I want to be a role model’, it’s about putting your money where your mouth is and getting it done. And you never know, we might find another little Olympic champion somewhere.”

    Campbell’s dream of opening a gym in Nottingham focused on youth and development will have to wait until after her career is over, and there will be many more medals still to come if she can maintain the consistency she has shown since Tokyo.

     

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    Silver and bronze medals have followed at world level while she has won the European title for four years in a row and Commonwealth gold on home soil in Birmingham in 2022.

     

    Having a platform has enabled Campbell not just to recognise the support given to her but to “shout” about a linked passion, showing women and girls that sport and exercise is for everyone and changing perceptions of what healthy looks like.

    Three years on from her Olympic breakthrough, Campbell is encouraged but not satisfied, saying: “We’re getting there. I wouldn’t say that it’s completely changed, I wouldn’t say we’re where we need to be but people hopefully are listening – I’ve definitely shouted enough about it.

    “You are seeing now a lot more of an inclusive space within the fitness industry. Brands are starting to do the right thing. This all filters back down to what our young people see. They want to see people that represent them, that look like them, and that encourages them to get involved.

    “It’s always going to be an ongoing battle and, as long as I’ve got a voice and people can hear me, I’m going to shout about it.”

    Campbell is made aware of the impact her words and actions have every day through messages and interactions, and she said: “It’s actually overwhelming sometimes. I want to say I do see everything that comes into my inbox but as you can imagine it is (busy) in there.

    “The amount of people that have said they’ve started lifting, or they’ve lost X amount of weight or they’ve started doing a certain dance class, or they’ve just done something that they feel has made a positive impact on their life.

    “People do stop me in the street as well, it’s absolutely amazing and I can’t thank everybody enough for the support.”

  • On this day in 2010: Sir Chris Hoy crowned world champion for 10th time On this day in 2010: Sir Chris Hoy crowned world champion for 10th time

    Sir Chris Hoy was crowned world champion for a 10th time on this day in 2010 as he triumphed in the Keirin at the Track Cycling World Championships in Copenhagen.

    A crash in the first heat threatened to wreck Hoy’s plans, but he managed to regroup to qualify for the final.

    Azizulhasni Awang pushed Olympic champion Hoy all the way before the British rider edged home to claim his second medal of the Championships.

    Hoy had already clinched bronze in the team sprint at the Ballerup Super Arena, but crashed out in qualifying for the Keirin.

    Josiah Ng Onn Lam had blocked Hoy, who went on to fall and take out another rider, which caused the race to stop.

    Ng was later disqualified and after Hoy progressed through to the final, the Scot had to bide his time before he gained the lead during the final lap-and-a-half to taste success in his first major global event since his triple Olympic success in 2008.

    “I certainly didn’t enjoy being bumped on my backside at the start of my first race – that was a bit out of order,” Hoy said.

    “It made me angry but I had to keep my emotions in check because I didn’t want the red mist to descend.

    “It’s even more special to be back here again where I won my first world title in 2002.

    “I would never have predicted then that I would be coming back here in eight years time, let alone to win a 10th title. I’m delighted.”

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