PARALYMPICS: Gabriel Shelly won Ireland's first medal of the Paralympic Games when the Carlow athlete defeated home favourite Yi Wang of China to secure bronze in the Boccia BC1 class.
The Bagnelstown native, who won gold at the Sydney Games in 2000, contested the semi-final but lost 4-1 to long-time rival Antonio Marques of Portugal. However, in the play-off match for bronze Shelly regrouped to deny Wang 6-2.
"I'm absolutely over the moon to medal. I had a plan about how to play it, I had done some work on him (Marques)," said Shelly, who is also the Irish team captain.
Shelly's victory was enjoyed even more because Wang had ended Pádraic Moran's hopes in yesterday's quarter-final when the Irish athlete lost in a tie break.
"My team mate Pádraic helped me with the strategy; he gave me ideas about how to play him after yesterday," added Shelly. "He advised me to go long on him so I did and it really worked. I felt strong mentally too."
As team captain Shelly realises personal celebrations will have to wait. "There's no time to celebrate right now, we need to focus on the team event now."
"This was a great performance," added Boccia team manager and coach Jacquie Connolly. "Gay is a role model to all those potential players back home. We have had great support from the Paralympic Council of Ireland and the Irish Sports Council to get us to this point. This is a marvellous result for the whole team, it's just a dream come true."
President McAleese congratulated Shelly on winning the medal by saying it is a "testament to Gabriel's tenacity and commitment to the pursuit of excellence in his discipline".
Mrs McAleese also wished Shelly and his team-mates continued success in the Games.
Boccia is a form of bowls for athletes with severe physical disabilities and is hugely popular in the Paralympic movement.
At the velodrome in Laoshan, the Irish cycling team continued their successful campaign with Catherine Walsh and her sighted pilot rider Joanna Hickey setting a new Irish record in the women's individual pursuit (B&VI Class) with a time of 3.50.515, shaving over 2.5 seconds off their previous best.
Dubliner Enda Smyth also competed in this morning's men's 1km time trial (CP4 Class). Smyth finished seventh, marginally outside his personal best, with a time of 1.16.074.
It was also a good morning for the Irish contingent at the Water Cube. Coalisland's Jonathan Cummings (S6 Class) went in the final of the men's 100m breaststroke and set a new Irish record with a time of 1.29.26, finishing eighth overall.
Teenager Ellen Keane returned to the pool in the final of her favoured 100m backstroke (SB8Class). Keane touched the wall in sixth position overall with a time of 1:29.72.
Tyrone's Stephen Campbell made his Paralympic debut in the 100m butterfly (S11 Class) heats. With a time of 1.16.28 the vision impaired athlete was just outside his own personal best and finished 10th overall.
Dubliner Cathal Miller was back in the velodrome today competing in the Men's 1km Time Trial (LC1) class. As was the case in the individual pursuit yesterday Miller excelled to set a new Irish record of 1:11.824, shaving over one second off his previous mark to place seventh overall.
Over at Qingdao both Ireland's sailing boats contested races 3, 4 and 5. In the Sonar class, Paul McCarthy, Paul Ryan and Richard Wheeley finished 13th, 12th & 11th respectively, leaving the team lying in 10th place overall with six races left. While in the Skud 18 class, Amy Kelehan and John Twomey placed lie 10th overall, also with six races remaining.
Irish flag bearer Patrice Dockery Patrice Dockery commenced her sixth Paralympic campaign in damp conditions at the Bird's Nest Stadium finishing fifth in the second heat of her 400m (T53 Class) with a time of 1:08.95.
Ireland's sole Archer Sean Heary, was in action today and made it through the ranking to face Arenz of Germany in the direct elimination round tomorrow morning.
Kathleen Reynolds was in action twice today in the table tennis event but Korea's Hyun-Ja Choi proved too strong, coming through to win 3-1. And despite a valiant performance Reynolds was defeated in five sets by Yenelis Silva of Cuba bringing to an end her individual campaign.
Reynolds will pair up with fellow Dubliner Eimear Breathnach for the team event this coming Saturday.