Japan had its most successful day of the Tokyo Paralympics yet on Sunday, with medals from the pool and athletics doubling the host nation's gold medal tally and taking it to four.
Naohide Yamaguchi won Japan's first gold of the day at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, improving his own world record in the men's SB14 100-meter breaststroke in 1 minute, 03.77 seconds, cutting 0.23 off his previous mark.
But he said the medals are not the only benefit of competing at the games, citing the camaraderie as another dividend.
"As a competitor in the SB14 class, I have been able to interact with athletes with disabilities from around the world and share the different challenges we face," he said. "I think that is the attraction."
Later in the evening, wheelchair racer Tomoki Sato completed a personal Tokyo gold double, adding the 1,500 to the 400 T52 title he earned on Friday.
The 31-year-old led from start to finish, and even after sitting in Sato's wake for the whole race, silver medalist Raymond Martin of the United States was unable to pass him.
Related coverage:
Paralympics: Naohide Yamaguchi wins Japan's 3rd gold, sets world record
Paralympics: Japan's Sato wins 2nd Tokyo Games gold in wheelchair T52 1,500
Hirokazu Ueyonabaru of Japan won bronze to duplicate Friday's 400 podium.
"I'm glad (the Paralympics) could be held in the midst of the coronavirus," Ueyonabaru said. "It would be impossible to come this far without the help of medical workers. I will do everything I can to express my gratitude."
Japan's wheelchair rugby team won bronze with a 60-52 defeat of two-time defending Paralympic gold medalists Australia, the home team's multi-pronged attack and defensive focus proving key factors.
By focusing its defense on Australia's main man Ryley Batt, Japan built an early lead and never trailed en route to a comfortable victory.
Daisuke Ikezaki again did most of the damage, scoring 23 tries, and captain Yukinobu Ike contributed 16, but they were just two of Japan's seven try-scorers. Despite the attention he attracted, Batt still scored 27 and no other Australian scored more than seven.
"(The plan was to) work hard throughout the entire match and play aggressively on both offense and defense," Ike said.
Britain emerged from a tight gold medal match with a 54-49 win, claiming their first Paralympic medal in the sport.
Related coverage:
Paralympics: Japan wins bronze over Australia in wheelchair rugby
In Judo, Kazusa Ogawa won women's B2 class bronze for Japan, taking a waza-ari victory over Olga Zabrodskaia of the Russian Paralympic Committee in the 70-kilogram category.
Ogawa won Japan's second judo bronze of the games at Nippon Budokan after Yujiro Seto's on Friday.
The five-a-side soccer tournament began with Japan beating perennial contender France 4-0. Ryo Kawamura and Tomonari Kuroda both netted twice for Japan.
Japan lines up against four-time reigning Paralympic champion Brazil on Monday, with a win against the South Americans likely booking a place in the semifinals. Brazil beat China 3-0 on Sunday.
"The first goal was quality, stealing the ball and scoring the way I'm best at," Kuroda said. "The second was all about feel, just getting a good kick on the ball."
"Brazil is a formidable opponent next, but I want to put everything into the game."
After a slow start, Japan's women's goalball team has now strung together two wins in a row, the most recent a 10-0 beat down of Egypt.
The male goalballers suffered their first defeat when 2016 bronze medalist Brazil scored eight times. Japan still holds the lead in their group though, sitting atop the South Americans on goal difference.
With a 59-54 loss to Germany, Japan's women's basketball team finished the group phase with a two-win, two-loss record but booked a quarterfinal against the Netherlands.
The men also fell, losing 79-61 to Spain but are good for a quarterfinal place anyway.
Japan got two clear-cut wins in wheelchair tennis' morning session.
Yui Kamiji and Momoko Ohtani won their women's doubles quarterfinal in straight sets and Takashi Sanada and Takuya Miki were equally untroubled in winning their men's WT class singles second-round matches.
Shingo Kunieda remained on track for another Paralympic medal in men's doubles along with Takashi Sanada.
The quad men's doubles pairing of Mitsuteru Moroishi and Koji Sugeno lost their semifinal to Australia's Dylan Alcott and Heath Davidson, and will play for bronze.
Japan's sitting volleyball struggles continued. The men dropped their second straight, this time 3-0 to Egypt, and the women did the same, going down 3-0 to Brazil.
