sports

Wheelchair Fencer Dimitri Coutya Wins Gold Medal In The Men’s Foil Category B

Dimitri Coutya of Great Britain has won his first wheelchair fencing gold medal at the Paralympics in the men's foil B division.

With obvious delight and more than a little relief, Couta defeated China's two-time defending Paralympic champion Feng Yanke 15-7 at the Grand Palais.

The 26-year-old had controlled the game from the outset, taking an early 8-4 lead and then coasting to an eight-point triumph.

Coutya had defeated Thailand's Visit Kingmanaw 15-5 in the quarterfinal and Ukraine's Dmytro Serozhenko 15-4 in the semifinals on route to the championship match.

I was always looking at where he was to set myself up for the best possible opportunities to score the hits. The beauty of fencing is you see personalities reflected in style. He is a very tactical, well rounded fencer. His defence is incredibly strong. I am strong in attack, I knew I couldn’t score everything because of how strong he is defensively but I pushed it as much as I could.

Dimitri Coutya

My support team are absolutely incredible. My teammates here and at home have helped push me to be better. So much has gone into this. Looking into the crowd tonight and seeing so many familiar faces who have come over to support me, I can’t believe how lucky I am.

Dimitri Coutya (discussing his support team)