Dimitri Coutya of Great Britain has won his second gold medal at the Paris Paralympics, after a convincing victory in the men’s individual epee B final. ParalympicsGB’s total number of golds is now 42, exceeding their previous 41 in Tokyo. Coutya beat Thailand’s Visit Kingmanaw 15-10 to add to his foil title won earlier in the programme. Meanwhile, his team-mate Piers Gilliver was defeated in his attempt to defend his epee A title, losing 15-12 to China’s Sun Gang.
Gilliver’s silver medal brought the GB team’s total to 100 in France, thus fulfilling UK Sport’s target of 100-140 medals with two days remaining in the competition. Coutya won silver and three bronzes in the Tokyo Paralympics, including one in this event, before winning his gold and a foil team silver in Paris alongside Gilliver and Oliver Lam-Watson. After defeating American Noah Hanssen 15-7, Coutya beat Italy’s Michele Massa 15-10 in the quarterfinals, and then Poland’s Michal Dabrowski 15-13 in the semis.
At 7-7 in the final match against Kingmanaw, Coutya won six consecutive points to seize control of the game. He confessed that he struggled earlier during his first match, but was proud of his perseverance and the teamwork of his fellow athletes and support staff. Gilliver, who became Britain’s first gold medallist in the sport in 33 years, had little difficulty in his opening games, defeating American William Schoonover 15-1 and then China’s Jianquan Tian 15-12 and Turkey’s Hakan Akkaya 15-6 to advance to his third consecutive final event.
Sun and Gilliver have met before, with Sun losing to Gilliver in the epee A semi-finals three years ago. In Paris, the Chinese athlete regained his title and held on to his early lead to win. Despite not defending his gold medal, Gilliver’s silver medal contributed to the GB team’s achievement of UK Sport’s target for medal acquisition in this year’s Paralympics
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