Gallant effort by NSWIS cyclists and goalball players on Day 1

Cyclists Simone Kennedy, Alexandra Lisney, Nicholas Yallouris and Matthew Formston have done Australia and the NSWIS proud on the opening day of competition at the Rio Paralympics.

Yallouris and Formston, racing in the men’s B 4000m individual pursuit were fifth in qualifying.

In the women’s individual C4 pursuit Lisney was sixth in qualifying, whilst in the women’s individual C1-3 pursuit, Kennedy (pictured) was eighth in qualifying. Neither progressed through to the final four who rode for medals.

Meanwhile, over at the goalball courts NSWIS trio Jenni Blow, Michele Rzepecki and Tyan Taylor, were part of the Australian team that went down to China 5-2.

Australia’s Meica Horsburgh opened the scoring in the first minute of the game, but it wasn’t long before China hit back. At half time the World Number 1 ranked team from China had a 3-1 lead but the Aussie girls were not giving up. Nicole Esdaile scored in the 15^th minute to bring the girls to two goals, but China soon responded with two more, winning the game 5-2.

For the six women on the team, the score line was less important than the mere fact of being there after a rollercoaster journey that saw them miss qualification back in November last year before getting a last minute call up after Russia’s exclusion from the Games.

Australia will next face Ukraine on Day 3, Saturday 10 September at 10.15am local Rio time / 11.15pm AEST.