Powerlifter Wawira lifts personal best but finishes sixth in Paris

Wawira lifted 98kg in the first attempt and then went for 99kg in the second try before going for 101kg in the final attempt to place sixth, missing out on her pre-championship podium finish target.

China’s CUI Zhe won gold, lifting a Paralympic record of 119kg with Esther Nworgu of Nigeria taking silver as De Lima Lara Aparecida of Brazil settled for bronze.

Nigeria’s Nworgu had set two new Paralympic Games records in her last two attempts, lifting 112kg and 118kg, respectively, but the Chinese powerlifter surpassed her feat at every turn to claim the top honours.

Nworgu’s silver earned Team Nigeria’s second medal at the Paralympics after Eniola Bolaji won the country’s first laurel on Monday in the women’s singles SL3 badminton event.

Meanwhile, freshly minted long jump silver medallist Samson Ojuka has set his sights on breaking the world record after bagging the country’s first medal in Paris.

Ojuka produced an incredible fourth jump of 6.20 metres, a new African record, to recapture his second position before hanging on strongly to take silver.

“Giving Kenya a medal at such a high stage in my first Olympics is a high honour. The sky's the limit, I’m aiming higher. My next target is to break the world record which is just a few centimetres,” he said.

Ojuka, a final year law student at Kenyatta University, erased the previous African Record of 6.05m set by Andrea Dalle Ave from South Africa in 2015 in Johannesburg.

He will jet back to the country on Thursday morning.