ParalympicsGB surpass Tokyo gold medal tally with Coutya’s second win

Britain’s Dimitri Coutya claimed his second gold medal at the Paris Paralympics with a dominant display in the men’s individual epee B final.

It is ParalympicsGB’s 42nd gold of the Games and means they have surpassed their Tokyo tally of 41.

The 26-year-old Londoner beat Thailand’s Visit Kingmanaw 15-10 to add to his foil title won earlier in the programme.

But team-mate Piers Gilliver was beaten as he tried to defend his epee A title, losing 15-12 to China’s Sun Gang.

However, Gilliver’s silver medal is the 100th won by the GB team in France and sees them reach the target set by UK Sport of 100-140 medals with two days of competition still to go.

Coutya had won silver and three bronzes, including one in this event, at the Tokyo Paralympics and already had his gold and a foil team silver alongside Gilliver and Oliver Lam-Watson.

He opened up his competition with a 15-7 win over American Noah Hanssen before defeating Italy’s Michele Massa 15-10 in the last eight and a 15-13 success over Poland’s Michal Dabrowski in the semi-final.

At 7-7 in the final against Kingmanaw he went on to win six of the next points and take control of the bout.

But Coutya admitted he did not have things all his own way in his earlier contests.

“At one point in my first round match I was convinced I would be out because I was struggling and wasn’t feeling it,” he said.

“But we have put in a lot of work to being as consistent as possible even when you are struggling and I found my form as the day went on and it has culminated in a gold medal

“I’m so thrilled. It hasn’t really sunk in yet.

“I think it is testament to the hard work that so many people have invested in me – team-mates, support staff, friends and family and there are so many people here supporting me and pushing me to be better and they are a large part of the reason why I have been so successful this week.”

Gilliver, who became Britain’s first gold medallist in the sport in 33 years when he triumphed in Tokyo and is also the current world champion, had cruised through his opening bouts.

The 29-year-old defeated American William Schoonover 15-1 in the opening round before beating China’s Jianquan Tian 15-12 and Turkey’s Hakan Akkaya 15-6 to reach his third final in a row in the event.

But Sun, who had beaten Gilliver in the Rio decider in 2016 but lost to him in the semi-finals three years ago, went ahead early in a cagey and tense final and held on to regain his title.