The action is really ramping up in Tokyo now, with lots more sports getting underway. Here we’re bringing you our roundup of all the action from Day 4 of the Tokyo 2025 Deaflympics!
Cycling
Day 4 should have seen Oliver Pritchard competing in the Points Race, but a decision was tken to save his energy for the Time Trial in a couple of days. Some real tactical decisions here and we can’t wait to see the Time Trial results.
Football Men
The Men’s Football team took on Iran in a tense match to try to reach the knock-out rounds. There was some old rivalry at play as the two teams met in the Final of the 2005 Deaflympics, with GB beating Iran there to win Gold.
Yesterday the teams drew 0-0, with the GB Team doing a great job of keeping their defence strong. This means they are through to the quarter-finals, where they’ll face Japan. This will be another challenge for the team as Japan won Silver in the last Deaflympics.
Tennis
It was back to singles tennis on Day 4, with Esah Hayat and Peter Wilcox competing. Both players upped their game with Wilcox beating his French opponent and going through to the next round.
Esah had a long match, with some good rallies but lost against his opponent. He will be back on court on Day 5 though in the doubles and is raring to go again!
Golf
It was the first round of three in the Golf on Day 4. All four golfers played a good round with the women showing off some great putting skills. GB’s Golf Team Manager Steven Caffrey said he couldn’t be more happy with everyone as they head to round 2.
UK Deaf Sport Chief Executive Chris Ratcliffe was on the green too, caddying for some of the players. Chris told us;
‘Whilst it was such a privilege to see some fantastic golf being played close up as well as feeling part of the team, I can’t help but feel somewhat frustrated that I have to caddy simply because we don’t get any government funding. Due to the lack of funding we had to make some difficult budget decisions where volunteers like me support our athletes in what is normally a specialised role.’
That said it was a great first day from the golf team. Windy conditions to start with the sun popping out from behind the clouds on occasions. The course was tough, greens were rolling quickly and the flags were in tight positions.
Paul is currently sitting 2nd with Aiden and Robbie in Top 20 after the first day of the singles competition. Lydia sitting 10th and Karen in the Top 20 which is brilliant for the two ladies 1st round in a Deaflympics.
Athletics
As athletics action kicked off in Japan with the always popular 100m, we spoke to GB’s Chef de Mission Chris Beech about why GB didn’t have an athlete entered in this race.
‘It’s a lot of money coming to Japan. We aren’t here for a holiday, we’re here to do a job – to try to win medals. Everybody in the UK has a dream they want to achieve but making that a reality takes hard work.
At this Deaflympics we’re going back to the drawing board to set up the templates for the next four years. There’s other things we need to look at e.g. governance, support and trianing.
But, the number one most important thing is funding from the government and their recognition.’
There was an exciting result in the Men’s 100m though with a new Deaflympics World Record set by Tanel Visnap of Estonia!
What’s coming up…
On Day 5 we’ve got some exciting medal chances in the 1500m final and the Shooting. We’ll be back here tomorrow with a round-up of the day but don’t forget to catch the action as it happens on our Instagram channel and get the in-depth news, pictures, videos and medal tally on the DeaflympicsGB website.