Tokyo (AFP)

Nélia Barbosa, now Paralympic vice-champion in kayaking in Tokyo, brought the only medal of the day to France, however assured of two more podiums on Sunday thanks to Lucas Mazur and Faustine Noël in badminton.

With 52 medals, the French team equaled its Beijing total in 2008 and it is even certain to exceed it with its two badminton finals on Sunday which guarantee it its best record for 17 years and the Athens Games.

For her first Games, Nélia Barbosa took second place in the 200-meter kayak final (KL3 category).

The best result of the 22-year-old Ile-de-France woman yet to climb on a world podium before Saturday.

"I relaunched hard at the end, I could not do more, I had no more arms", delivers the double vice-champion of Europe, amputated above the right ankle due to neurofibromatosis .

The French Nélia Barbosa, during the 200m kayak series at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, September 2, 2021 YASUYOSHI CHIBA AFP

She is already aiming for the top march in Paris in three years: "I really hope to win a gold medal in front of the public to encourage us. This is something I look forward to."

Badists Lucas Mazur and Faustine Noël are aiming for gold on Sunday after qualifying for the mixed doubles final (SL3-SU5).

"We wanted this final so much that each point was a struggle and we conducted it perfectly," said the 27-year-old.

Also qualified for the singles final (SL4 category), the double world champion (2017 and 2019) Lucas Mazur, suffering from a malformation in his right ankle, can sign a double and imitate the table tennis player Fabien Lamirault, the only Frenchman to have won. two titles in Tokyo.

He had to rule out the Indian Tarun Dhillon, his rival in the last three world finals, in the semifinals.

"I approached this match as a world championship final, I want to write history," he said before facing another Indian, Suhas Yathiraj, with lesser credentials in the final on Sunday.

No gold on the other hand for Nantenin Keita, who remained at the foot of the podium in the 400 meters (category T13).

With a lap of the track completed in 57 sec 17, the reigning Paralympic champion, daughter of Malian musician Salif Keita, misses the bronze medal of 38/100 for her fifth Games at 36 years old.

© 2021 AFP