Paris Paralympics 2024 Day 1 Highlights: Sensational Sheetal Devi finishes 2nd in archery individual ranking round; shuttlers Palak Kohli, Sukant Kadam, Suhas Yathiraj win opening group matches

India's Suhas Yathiraj/Palak Kohli lose 0-2 (15-21, 9-21) to Lucas Mazur/Faustine Noel of France in the mixed doubles SL3-SU5 in Group A match.

The pair crashes out of the group stages in the mixed doubles category after suffering their second loss.

India's Suhas Yathiraj/Palak Kohli lose Game 1 (15-21) to Lucas Mazur/Faustine Noel of France in the mixed doubles SL3-SU5 in Group A match

Rakesh Kumar secures the fifth position, scoring a total of 696 points. When combined with Sheetal's impressive score of 703, their aggregate of 1399 not only earns India the top seeding in the mixed team event but also sets a new World Record in the process.

India's Nitesh Kumar/Thulasimathi Murugesan lose 0-2 (15-21, 8-21) to Hikmat Ramdani/Leani Ratri Oktila of Indonesia in the mixed doubles SL3-SU5 Group A match

India's Nitesh Kumar/Thulasimathi Murugesan lose Game 1 (15-21) to Hikmat Ramdani/Leani Ratri Oktila of Indonesia in the mixed doubles SL3-SU5 Group A match

India's Rakesh Kumar and Shyam Sundar Swami finish at 5th and 15th places respectively in the men's individual Compound Open Ranking Round

Frenchman Ugo Didier and Brazilian Gabrielzinho won gold medals in impressive fashion as the first titles were claimed in swimming at the Paris Paralympics on Thursday.

Didier, 22, was cheered on to the men's 400m freestyle S9 crown by a boisterous home crowd at the La Defense Arena.

He overtook one of the pre-race favourites, Italy's world champion Simone Barlaam, after the final turn.

Australian Brenden Hall was third, having claimed gold in the race in Rio eight years ago.

With victory for Didier, who was born with club feet and weakness in his knees, the venue witnessed similar euphoric scenes to Leon Marchand's successes during the Olympics.

Gabriel dos Santos Araujo, known as Gabrielzinho, also set the arena alight by claiming gold in the men's 100m backstroke S2.

The 22-year-old, who has no arms or hands and his legs are atrophied, celebrated his third Paralympic gold medal and making up for his silver in the event in Tokyo by blowing a puff of water from his mouth, as the crowd went wild.

Other golds went to Hungary's Zsofia Konkoly, Poland's Kamil Otowski, Singapore's Pin Xiu Yip and Denmark's Alexander Hillhouse.

Barlaam, 24, is part of a much-fancied Italian squad, who struggled in the early part of the session claiming three bronze medals on top of his silver.

Other titles are up for grabs later Thursday, including Barlaam's compatriot Franceso Bocciardo defending his 200m freestyle S5 title and another home hope in Alex Portal in the men's 100m butterfly S13.

Juergen Klopp was famous for inspiring comebacks, but even the former Liverpool manager is amazed by his friend Wojtek Czyz who battled back from an horrific football injury to become a multiple paralympic champion.

Klopp was in the stands at La Chapelle Arena on Thursday to support his 44-year-old friend as he competed in the badminton competition at Paris 2024.

The pair have known each other for more than 20 years after Czyz, a four-time Paralympic champion in athletics who has switched to compete in badminton for New Zealand, suffered the injury that not only ended his football career but led to his leg being amputated.

Klopp was far from a lucky charm, for his friend, who lost 21-5 21-2 against Briton Daniel Bethell, the second seed, but the Champions League winning coach knew this one was one of the rare occasions in sport when the result is less important than taking part.

"I couldn't be prouder of him. Yesterday we were standing in front of the Eiffel Tower and we thought wow, it's super, super special," Klopp said.

"That's another thing being here I sit next to his incredible wife Elena, and we both had tears in our eyes, because I know sport is always about results, about winning, but that's much more behind that story and being here, it's always so touching that I couldn't get my head around it."

India's Pooja is placed at 8th spot at the halfway stage (36 shots out of 72) in the women's individual Recurve Open Ranking Round.

India's Rakesh Kumar, Shyam Sundar Swami are placed 5th and 10th respectively at the halfway stage (36 shots out of 72) in the men's individual Compound Open Ranking Round

Indian women's singles para-badminton campaign at the ongoing Paris Paralympics picked up momentum on Thursday as para-shuttlers Palak Kohli, Thulasimathi Murugesan, Manisha Ramdass and Nithya Sre secured wins in their respective group stage matches.

Palak, placed in SL4 Group C, secured a win over France's Milenna Surreau by 21-12, 21-14.

Thulasimathi, placed in Group A of the SU5 category and Manisha, placed in Group C of the SU5 category, also secured fine wins.

Thulasimathi beat Italy's Rosa De Marco by 21-9, 21-11 while Manisha outclassed France's Maud Lefort by 8-21, 21-6, 21-19.

Nithya, placed in Group A of the SH6 category, defeated Jayci Simon of the USA by 21-7, 21-8.

Now, except Nithya, who has three matches left, other players are left with two matches which will determine if they qualify for knockouts or not.

Reigning men's wheelchair basketball champions USA and one of the pretenders to their title, Great Britain, both started their Paralympic campaigns with wins on Thursday.

The Americans started their title defence with a hard-fought 66-56 victory against Spain, while a Gregg Warburton-inspired Britain thrashed Germany at the Bercy Arena.

Spain started doggedly and went point-for-point with the US in a first quarter lit up by a spectacular Jake Williams three-pointer sunk after he pulled off an over-the-shoulder steal inside his own half.

The Americans began the second quarter leading just 18-17, with Spain's Jordi Ruiz consistently making baskets as the sides went into half-time separated by three points.

Baskets proved hard to come by at the beginning of the third quarter before both sides found their range to set up a grandstand finale with the score at 46-40 in the Americans' favour.

And it was the defending champions who emerged strongest at the end to claim victory in their opener, thanks in large part to Williams' excellent contribution of 22 points.

Earlier, Warburton hit 24 points as Great Britain opened with a 76-55 win against Germany.

Warburton, twice a Paralympic bronze medallist in 2016 and 2020, said: "Opening game, obviously a few nerves... We've got a lot of work still to do, but first (win) in the books, good start."

The 27-year-old had both feet amputated when he was six months old and was born with an abnormality to his left arm, resulting in it being shorter and having only two fingers.

Despite his dominant performance on the court, Warburton still found faults in his performance: "It's far from perfect. I still missed some easy shots.

"But I'm happy with how the game went and, most importantly, we got a win.

"It was an honour to play in front of such a good crowd," he added of the thousands of fans packed into the arena where LeBron James' USA team beat France in a thrilling Olympic final earlier this month.

The Britons made a fast start in the first quarter and raced into the lead before Germany's Matthias Guntner led the fightback in the second.

But Britain held firm to lead 32-25 at the break even though Guntner was in fine shooting form and would finish with 19 points.

Germany seemed in the ascendancy in the third quarter with Britain beginning to miss regularly from the floor but points from Warburton and Ben Fox kept the Britons' noses ahead.

Britain then proved too strong in a dominant fourth-quarter showing and cruised to a handsome win.

India's Sivarajan Solaimalai loses 0-2 (15-21, 17-21) to Subhan of Indonesia in the men's singles SH6 Group A match

India's Rakesh Kumar, Shyam Sundar Swami in action in the men's individual Compound Open Ranking Round while Pooja takes the field in the women's individual Recurve Open Ranking Round

Top seed Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan starts off his Paralympics campaign in style as she beats Jayci Simon of USA 2-1 (21-7, 21-8) in straight games in the women's singles SH6 Group A match

India's Sivarajan Solaimalai loses Game 1 (15-21) against Subhan of Indonesia in the men's singles SH6 Group A match

Indian para-athlete Sheetal Devi has secured a direct entry into the round of 16 at the Paris Paralympics in the women's individual compound open archery event.

This follows a remarkable performance in the ranking round on Thursday, where she achieved a score of 703 out of a possible 720, securing second place.

Devi's score surpassed the previous world record of 698, set by Great Britain's Phoebe Pine Paterson earlier this month.

However, Turkey's Oznur Girdi Cure ultimately claimed the world record with an even higher score of 704, pushing Devi into second place.

Second seed Manisha Ramadass fights back to beat Maud Lefort of France 2-1 (8-21, 21-6, 21-19) in the women's singles SU5 Group C match

Top seed Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan takes Game 1 (21-7) against Jayci Simon of USA in the women's singles SH6 Group A match

The women's singles SH6 Group A match between top seed India's Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan and Jayci Simon of USA is underway

Paris Paralympics 2024 Classification

SH6: Short stature and standing athletes

What a comeback by Manisha Ramadass as she makes it 1-1 after clinching the Game 2 (21-6) against Maud Lefort of France in the women's singles SU5 Group C match.

The third and final games to decide the winner.

Caroline Groot of the Netherlands wins the first gold medal of the 2024 Paralympics in women’s track cycling.

All triathlon events at the Paris Paralympics will take place on September 1 due to concerns that stormy weather could stir up pollution in the River Seine, organisers announced Thursday.

The triathlon events were originally scheduled to happen over two days -- September 1 and 2 -- but those initially scheduled for the second have been brought forward due to the "high level of uncertainty" of the weather forecast for the coming days.

"All eleven medal events will now take place on 1 September, instead of across two days, on 1 and 2 September. This decision has been taken to provide athletes and coaches with as much certainty as possible," organisers said in a statement.

The decision was made following a meeting between governing body World Triathlon, Paris 2024 organisers and the relevant French authorities involved in monitoring the water quality of the Seine.

The issue caused disruption to the Olympics triathlon and open-water swimming events, with several practice sessions being cancelled due to high levels of pollution caused by heavy rainfall.

Of 11 days of events and training scheduled in the river during the Olympics, only five got the green light.

Not a good start for second seed Indian shuttler Manisha Ramadass as she loses Game 1 (8-21) against unseeded Maud Lefort of France in the women's singles SU5 Group C match

The women's singles SU5 Group C match between India's Manisha Ramadass and Maud Lefort of France is underway

Paris Paralympics 2024 Classification

SU5: Athletes in this class have impairment of the upper limbs. The impairment could be on the playing or non-playing hand

Sheetal Devi has made history by becoming the first Indian female para-archer to surpass the 700-point mark in the women's individual compound open ranking round. With an impressive personal best score of 703 points, she has secured the second seed position.

This remarkable achievement highlights Sheetal’s exceptional skills and dedication to her craft. Her performance not only sets a new benchmark for Indian para-archers but also serves as an inspiration to aspiring athletes across the nation.

As the competition progresses, all eyes will be on Sheetal Devi as with her record-breaking score and the second seed placement, she has positioned herself as a strong contender for the medal.

Sensational show by Sheetal Devi as she scores 703 out of 720 to finish second in the women's individual compound open ranking round, 5 more than existing World Record mark of 698, but world champion Oznur Cure Girdi of Türkiye finishes a point ahead with a score of 704.

India's Harvinder Singh finishes 9th with a score of 637 in the men's individual recurve open ranking round

India's Sheetal Devi finishes second with a personal best score of 703 in the women's individual compound open ranking round, while Sarita ends up at 9th spot with a score of 682.

Para Badminton

7:30 PM: Manisha Ramadass vs Maud Lefort (France) in Women's Singles SU5 Group Play Stage

7:30 PM: Sivarajan Solaimalai vs Subhan (Indonesia) in Men's Singles SH6 Group Play Stage

7:30 PM: Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan vs Jayci Simon (USA) in Women's Singles SH6 Group Play Stage

Para Archery

8:30 PM: Rakesh Kumar, Shyam Sundar Swami in Men's Individual Compound Open Ranking Round

8:30 PM: Pooja in Women's Individual Recurve Open Ranking

Para Badminton

10:10 PM: Nitesh Kumar/Thulasimathi Murugesan vs Hikmat Ramdani/Leani Ratri Oktila (Indonesia) in Mixed Doubles SL3-SU5 Group Play Stage

10:50 PM: Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj/Palak Kohli vs Lucas Mazur/Faustine Noel (France) in Mixed Doubles SL3-SU5 Group Play Stage

Thulasimathi Murugesan beats Rosa Efomo de Marco of Italy 21-9, 21-11 in the women's singles SU5 Group A match

Thulasimathi Murugesan takes Game 1 (21-9) against Rosa Efomo de Marco of Italy in the women's singles SU5 Group A match

Paris Paralympics 2024 Classification

SU5: Athletes in this class have impairment of the upper limbs. The impairment could be on the playing or non-playing hand

India's Nitesh Kumar fights back to beat compatriot Manoj Sarkar 21-13, 18-21, 21-18 in the men's singles SL3 Group A match.

India's Palak Kohli beats Milena Surreau of France 21-12, 21-14 in straight games in the women's singles SL4 Group C match.

Paris Paralympics 2024 Classification

SL3: Athletes competing standing with a lower limb impairment and balance problems walking or running.

SL4: Athletes competing standing with less severe impairment than in SL3. Athletes demonstrate lower limb impairment and minor balance problems walking or running.

India's Manoj Sarkar fights back to make it 1-1 after winning Game 2 (21-18) against compatriot Nitesh Kumar in the men's singles SL3 Group A match. The third and final game to decide the winner.

India's Palak Kohli wins the Game 1 (21-12) in quick time against Milena Surreau of France in the women's singles SL4 Group C match

The women's singles SL4 Group C match is underway between India's Palak Kohli and Milena Surreau of France

India's Nitesh Kumar takes Game 1 (21-13) against compatriot Manoj Sarkar in the men's singles SL3 Group A match.

India's Jyoti Gaderiya finishes a dismal 10th with a timing of 4:53.929.

Cyclists with top two fastest timings will contest for gold while the next two fastest will contest for bronze.