In the Men's 400m - T53, Hong Suk-man of the Republic of Korea was the man to beat, having set a Paralympic record (49.13s) in the heats. He left nothing to chance, and never looked in doubt, smashing the world record (47.67s) to take the gold ahead of China's Li Huzhao (48.43s) and Richard Coleman of Australia, in 48.92s.
In the Women's Shot Put - F37/38, Jia Qianqian of China gave the home crowd plenty to cheer about, when she set an F37 Paralympic record (10.11 meters) to take the lead with 986 points in the competition. But they cheered even louder, when moments later Mi Na of China set an F37 world record (11.07m), for 1080 points. Mi went further ahead and secured the gold medal, with 11.58m for 1129 points, on her second throw. Athens 2004 gold medalist Aldona Grigaliuniene of Lithuania set an F38 Paralympic record (11.86m), for 1039 points, on her opening throw. She bettered this mark on her second (12.54m) and third throw (12.58m), for 1102 points, to score a silver medal. Athens bronze medalist Eva Berna of the Czech Republic crept into third position with a second throw of 10.64m, for 1038 points. With her next effort she improved again with 10.67m for 1041 points. Her fifth throw (10.84m), for 1057 points, was good enough to pick up the bronze medal. After a strong start, Jia finished in seventh position.
In the Men's Discus Throw - F32/51, Karim Betina of Algeria shot to the lead with an F32 Paralympic record (19.04m), for 1093 points. Martin Zvolanek of Czech Republic stole the lead, with his F51 world record (10.78m) for 1098 points. But he didn't hold this rank for long, with Mourad Idoudi of Tunisia, scoring an F32 world record (19.72m), for 1132 points. Joze Flere of Slovania scored second-position and the silver medal, with an F51 world record (10.99m), for 1119 points. But it was Idoudi who walked away with the gold medal and Zvolanek took the bronze. Betina finished out of the medals, in fourth position.
(BOCOG September 11, 2008)