Swimmer Suzuki wins Japan's 1st gold of Paralympics

 Takayuki Suzuki won Japan's first Tokyo Paralympic gold medal since 2012 on Thursday, the 34-year-old taking the men's 100-meter freestyle S4 swimming title to get the host nation into the gold column on the games medal table.

The medal was Suzuki's second in two days and took his career tally to seven, including a gold he won at the 2008 Games in Beijing.

"I came into the race trying to swim like I always do so I'm really satisfied with my time and also finishing first," he said.

Suzuki's medal was one of two in the pool for Japan on Thursday, with Uchu Tomita contributing a silver in the men's 400 freestyle S11 category on his Paralympic debut.

Japan's wheelchair rugby team maintained an unbeaten record with a 60-51 defeat of Denmark for their second win in as many days, moving them into sole first place in their group.

Veteran class 3.0 player Daisuke Ikezaki followed a big performance in the team's first-up win over France with a 24 try effort against the Danes, putting his squad in a great position to advance to the semifinals.

"I'm glad we secured a win. Their high-point player was fast so we were thinking we need to press and stop him before he gets going. That worked. We were confident that we'd be fine defensively if we played to our abilities," said Hidefumi Wakayama, who scored five tries as a class 1.0 player.

Japan's win was all the more impressive after Denmark displayed their quality by beating reigning two-time Paralympic gold medalists Australia on Wednesday.

Not to be outdone, Japan's women's wheelchair basketball team also kept its unblemished record intact, beating 2018 world championships runner-up Britain 54-48.

Class 4.0 player Ikumi Fujii rode some hot shooting to tally 14 points, going 6-for-10 from the floor. She also dragged in 10 rebounds and dished five assists.

"What was lacking from this team was the joy of winning and confidence. Now that we have that, we're changed," said Fujii. "I think that has made us stronger. We've created a basketball team where anyone can score."

The Japan men's wheelchair basketball team got its Paralympic campaign off to a winning start in the evening, beating Colombia 63-56.

A Kei Akita, Renshi Chokai one-two punch carried the home team to the win. The former led all scorers with 24 points while the latter contributed a 15-point, 17-rebound 10-assist double-double.

Track cyclist Shota Kawamoto had a chance to become Japan's third medalist of the Tokyo Games in the men's C2 3,000-meter event at the Izu Velodrome, but he let the chance slip when he was defeated in the bronze race by China's Liang Guihua.

He got off to a quick start and led by almost 2 seconds at the end of the first kilometer, but the Chinese got stronger and stronger, overhauling the Japanese and building a 4.166 margin by the finish line.

"I was aiming for a medal but was tired after my qualifying effort. At the end, my legs were done. I gave 100 percent," said Kawamoto.

Anri Sakurai was the only Japanese to reach a quarterfinal in wheelchair fencing on Thursday, but she was easily dispatched by Russian Paralympic Committee representative Viktoria Boykova in their class B event.