Medal streak continues with four more
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Medal streak continues with four more

Wheelchair racer Pongsakorn Paeyo celebrates with his silver medal on the podium. (Photo: Reuters)
Wheelchair racer Pongsakorn Paeyo celebrates with his silver medal on the podium. (Photo: Reuters)

Wheelchair racer Pongsakorn Paeyo claimed his third medal of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games while powerlifter Kamolpan Kraratpet took a maiden medal in the sport for Thailand on Thursday night.

Pongsakorn won a silver medal in the men's 800m T53 event in the para athletics competition at the Stade de France.

The 27-year-old clocked 1.38.26min to finish in second place behind gold medallist Canada's Brent Lakatos, who won the race in 1:37.32. The bronze medal went to Brian Siemann of the United States in 1:38.44.

Pongsakorn won gold in the 400m event on Sunday and took silver in the 100m race on Wednesday.

Kamolpan, 23, claimed a bronze medal in the women's up to 55kg category with a 108kg lift in her third attempt.

The Thai made her first lift of 104kg but failed in her second attempt of 106kg.

The 23-year-old from Udon Thani was a bronze medallist in the 50kg event at the Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, China, last year.

Egypt's Rehab Ahmed won the gold medal with a 121kg lift while Turkey's Besra Duman claimed silver with a 113kg attempt.

Thailand got two more bronze medals yesterday from para table tennis.

Chalermpong Punpoo lost in the men's MS7 semi-finals against China's Yan Shuo 2-3 while Phisit Wangphonphathanasiri went down to Ukraine's Viktor Didukh 1-3 in the last four of the men's MS8 event.

Meanwhile, Paris's mayor said yesterday that she intended to keep the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower until at least 2028 despite criticism of the idea from some residents and lawmakers.

The logo of five interlocking rings was erected on the beloved monument before the July 28-Aug 11 Olympics in Paris and has become a popular backdrop for selfies by visitors.

Anne Hidalgo, the Socialist mayor in power since 2014, caused widespread surprise last weekend by saying she intended to retain the symbol.

"The proposal that I have made for the rings... is a proposal that until 2028, until the Games in Los Angeles, we will leave the rings on the Eiffel Tower," she told reporters at a press conference.

"Perhaps after 2028, they'll stay and maybe they won't. Let's see," she added.

The idea has sparked criticism from many opposition Parisian lawmakers, residents as well as conservation groups.

The descendants of the tower's designer, Gustave Eiffel, issued a statement saying that it "does not seem appropriate to us that the Eiffel Tower, which has become the symbol of Paris and the whole of France since its construction 135 years ago, has the symbol of an outside organisation added to it".

The Agitos logo for the Paralympic Games, which wrap up on Sunday, was placed on the Arc de Triomphe but will be moved to a location mid-way up the Champs-Elysees avenue, Hidalgo added. 

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