Japan won its first ever Paralympic triathlon medals on Saturday but its wheelchair rugby players can do no better than bronze after suffering semifinal defeat later in the day.
The triathlon competitors endured a sweltering morning in the Tokyo Bay area, though it did not stop Hideki Uda and Satoru Yoneoka from swimming, pedaling and running to Japan's first two Paralympic medals in the sport.
Uda was second in the men's PTS4 class, beaten by 3 minutes, 47 seconds by Frenchman Alexis Hanquiquant. Yoneoka finished third, 1:04 behind American Brad Snyder in the men's PTVI event.
"When I finished the race, I had a hard time controlling my emotions because I was overwhelmed with various feelings," said Uda. "I felt really happy running that final stretch."
Japan's dream of wheelchair rugby gold ended in a 55-49 semifinal loss to Britain.
Stifling defense from the European champion put the clamps on the Japanese, whose try total was approximately seven less than they had averaged in their first three games.
"We knew the Japanese people had high expectations for us, and I really wanted to make them happy, but today, our best wasn't good enough," an emotional Daisuke Ikezaki, who led Japan with 13 tries, said in the wake of the loss.
"People went to so much effort to hold the Paralympics during this difficult coronavirus situation. But we couldn't meet expectations, and that's the really disappointing thing for me."
Related coverage:
Paralympics: Uda, Yoneoka win Japan's 1st triathlon medals ever
Paralympics: Japan falls to Britain in wheelchair rugby semis
Swimmer Takayuki Suzuki remained on track to meet his goal of winning a medal in every individual event he contests at the Tokyo Games, this time touching in the bronze position for his third medal.
Suzuki took his latest medal in the men's SM4 150-meter individual medley, adding it to the gold and bronze he'd already won in the 100 freestyle and 50 breaststroke, respectively.
Japan's goalballers had a two-win day, the men's team beating Lithuania 10-2 to stay on top of its group, while the women got their first win, topping the United States. 3-2. The women's team now sits third in its group and in good position to reach the quarterfinals.
Only one Japanese judoka reached a medal bout on Saturday.
Junko Hirose came up against Turkish fighter Zeynep Celik for bronze, but she left the Nippon Budokan empty-handed, going out with an ippon loss.
In wheelchair basketball, Japan's men made a fourth-quarter push to turn a six-point deficit into a six-point win over Canada. Hiroaki Kozai was the main man, scoring 24 points with Takuya Furusawa contributing 14.
Maki Ito lost in the semifinal of the class 11 event in women's table tennis to earn bronze.
The 36-year-old intellectually impaired athlete lost in straight games to Lea Ferney of France but went two places better than her fifth place effort at the 2016 Paralympics.
Japan's wheelchair tennis top guns made their first appearances on the Ariake Tennis Center courts.
Women's WT class medal favorite Yui Kamiji cruised through her opening round singles match in straight sets, as did three-time Paralympic gold medalist Shingo Kunieda in the men's WT class.
Koji Sugeno was a first-round winner in quad singles but Mitsuteru Moroishi ran up against Australia's defending Olympic champion Dylan Alcott and was easily dispatched.
Manami Tanaka and Momoko Ohtani progressed in women's singles WT class.
