Two athletes representing Greece won bronze medals on Tuesday, the first full day day of the Paralympic Games taking place in Tokyo.
Panagiotis Triantafyllou and Demosthenes Michalentzakis won bronze for Greece in the wheelchair individual fencing category and swimming respectively.
Greece’s Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and President, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, on Wednesday congratulated the two athletes for their wins.
“We are proud of our athletes, who give us all strength by their example,” Sakellaropoulou said in a tweet.
Panagiotis Triantafyllou:
Triantafyllou beat Frenchman, Maxime Valet, in wheelchair fencing to claim his medal.
The athlete earlier secured qualification to the semifinals, where he suffered a 15-9 defeat by Poland’s, Adrian Castro. He easily defeated Valet in the final though with a score of 15-6.
Triantafyllou has represented Greece at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and at the 2016 Summer Paralympics. He won the silver medal in the men’s sabre B event at the 2016 Summer Paralympics.
Demosthenes Michalentzakis:
Michalentzakis made an excellent appearance in the final of the 100 meters freestyle at the Games, in the S8 category, claiming the bronze medal with a performance time of 58.73.
The gold medal was won by the Australian, Ben Boffam (57.37), while Russian, Andrei Nikolaev, came in second with a time of 57.69.
Michalentzakis has won Paralympic gold in the 100m butterfly at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.
