Three Japanese athletes participated in the qualifying for the Beijing Paralympic Games, snowboarding, and men's snowboard cross class with disabilities, and Takahito Ichikawa finished sixth at 1: 3: 63. I advanced to the final.

Qualifying for a class with a disability in the legs of a men's snowboard cross will be held in a format where each person slides twice and competes for the ranking in the faster time, and the top 16 of the 23 players who participated will advance to the quarterfinals. ..



All three Japanese players participated in the Paralympics for the first time, and Takahito Ichikawa showed a quick turn in the second run, marking a time of 1 minute 3:63 and finishing 6th.



In addition, Keiji Okamoto finished 8th with a speed of 1'3.95 for the second time, and Shinji Tabuchi finished 16th at 1'07.36, both in the quarterfinals on the 7th. I proceeded.



The quarter-finals will start at 0:30 pm on the 7th of Japan time, with four players slipping at the same time, and the top players will advance to the semi-finals and finals.

Takahito Ichikawa "Feeling slippery"

Ichikawa, who was 6th in qualifying, said, "I feel like I've slipped a bit, and the time has increased from the first to the second, so I'm glad for the time being."



For the quarter-finals, he said, "I'm nervous because there are quite a lot of places to overtake the opponent in this course, but I want to do my best."

Keiji Okamoto "I want to go through to the end without compromising"

Okamoto, who was 8th in qualifying, said, "It's really fun and awesome. I was able to slip."



Based on the period of about 3 years since I started working on parasports in earnest, "I was deeply moved by the fact that I came here, and I was nervous before the start, but I was nervous in the past, but I can snowboard without it at all. When I think about it, I think I'm very happy that my view is widened. "



Regarding the Paralympics as Russia's military invasion of Ukraine continues, "I think it's a difficult time in the world, but I hope everyone gets excited by our desperate skiing. Wants to get through to the end without compromising. "

Shinji Tabuchi "I don't know what will happen until the end."

Tabuchi, who was 16th in qualifying, said, "I was able to slip without any major mistakes." I want to do my best and slide with all my strength. "