Mehrzadselakjani later said: “When we heard this news yesterday we were very shocked”.
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Oyema gave Nigeria her third medal of the 2016 Paralympic Games; winning silver in the women’s -55 kg event.
The famous Maracana football stadium was packed, with the Paralympians themselves seated across the field, as proceedings kicked off with fireworks. Born without arms, he learned to play the guitar with his feet. In May this year, experts even petitioned for the Rio Games to be moved or delayed due to the Zika virus.
The Japanese say that the Rio Games have set a high standard for them to follow.
A minute of silence will be held during Sunday’s closing ceremony.
Carlos Arthur Nuzman, president of the Organising Committee of the Olympic Games Rio 2016, said this edition will “forever remain in the history of world sport”.
There were big worries on the eve of the Paralympics that Brazilian organizers had run out of money and that nearly no one would come to watch.
“The Paralympic family is united in grief at this horrendous tragedy which casts a shadow over what has been a great Paralympic Games here in Rio”.
Although Mr Temer did not attend the closing ceremony, one of the performers, Lucio Maia from the band Nacao Zumbi, took the opportunity to flash a “Get out Temer” sign to the television cameras.
Brazil’s Daniel Dias claimed an historic 24th medal in the pool, sending locals into a frenzy which capped the Games and acted as an antidote to the domestic political, corruption and economic scandals that afflicted the build up. Her replacement and fierce enemy Michel Temer came to the opening ceremony on September 7 and was booed by the crowd.
Mr Craven warned earlier Sunday that “major change” will be needed from Russian Federation to be allowed back into Paralympic competition.
The Iranian flag was lowered to half-staff in the Paralympic Village.
In the match held at the Riocentro, Rio de Janeiro, five-time Paralympics’ champion had not a hard job to beat the host in front of boisterous fans.
The veteran cyclist had also competed for Iran at the London 2012 Paralympics, and was his country’s only representative in cycling in Rio.
Algeria’s Abdellatif Baka wins the gold in the men’s 1,500-meter T13 final athletics event at Olympic Stadium during the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2016.
The first four runners in the race, with Baka’s twin brother coming fourth, actually ran faster than the gold medal victor Matthew Centrowitz in the Olympics a month before.
One nation unlikely to face the same quandary are China having again exerted their sporting prowess at a Paralympic Games to earn an incredible 239 medals here, including 107 golds. Para-swimmers Yip Pin Xiu and Theresa Goh won two golds and a bronze respectively as the Republic finished 46th in the medal table.
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“They will be remembered as the people’s Paralympics”.
