Five-a-side Paralympic association football is a game specifically for athletes with sight impairments. Those with partial sight may compete too, so long as they wear blindfolds to ensure an even playing field. Above, Brazilians Marcos Felipe and Damiao Ramos make an appeal to the ref in their match against Spain. Brazil won 1-0, and has not conceded a goal in its first two matches.
As of Day 5, 231 events have been completed, with 708 medals awarded. Today's action will feature finals in athletics, equestrian, powerlifting, rowing, shooting, swimming and table tennis.
POWERLIFTING: Whether in the Olympics, Paralympics or on the planet Glerbtron, people who compete by lifting heavy objects are going to take performance-enhancing drugs. That much is evident after the second major doping scandal of these games, in which two more powerlifters have been expelled from the Athlete's Village and given two-year bans. Facourou Sissoko from Mali, and the Ukraine's Liudmyla Osmanova both failed tests for boldenone metabolite and 19-norandrosterone, respectively, on the day of the opening ceremony. Both are anabolic steroids.
In addition to a previous powerlifting removal, there are now four athletes who have been sent from Beijing by the International Paralympic Committee. Ahmet Coskun, of Germany's wheelchair basketball team, tested positive for finasteride, an active ingredient in hair loss treatment. While it's not illegal to banish baldness at the Paralympics, it's a known masking agent.
TABLE TENNIS: Polish table tennis sensation Natalya Partyka won her second consecutive Paralympic championship in Class 10 on Day 5. She won each of her matches in straight sets against a phalanx of Chinese paddlers, overcoming an 8-5 deficit in the first set against Fan Lei and cruising to victory from there on out (11-8, 11-4, 11-9). "It was a difficult match for me even though the scoreline suggests it was easy," Partyka said afterward to reporters. "It was a close game and I had to concentrate hard. So I am very happy to win the title again."
Partyka was the only 2008 Olympian/Paralympian with a disability from birth, and is still only 19 years old. She competed at the Sydney 2000 Paralympics as an 11 year old.
FOOTBALL: Seven-a-side football is reserved for cerebral palsy sufferers, the same way that five-a-side is limited to those without sight. Seven-a-side has a list of complicated rules as to whom can compete -- it's not as if you can give everyone blindfolds and call it even. Athletes are classified on an eight-point scale, and C5 (walking/running difficulties, but can kick the ball) to C8 (non-severe disabilities). At least one C5 or C6 player per team must be on the pitch at all times.
The existence of the C8 class has opened the game to plenty of unfortunate controversy. When the Netherlands lost to Russia 12-1 in the preliminary round, the Dutch coach intimated that some of the Russian players were physically able to play professional football -- of course, there is no professional Paralympic football. But the IPC threw the issue into the spotlight by banning Irish player Derek Malone, after officials watched him for 20 minutes and decided he did not meet the requirements.
Malone, who has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, had a previous run-in with the IPC -- four years ago, he lobbied for inclusion in a men's 800m event.
"I refuse to let a flawed process cast aspersions on the integrity of the achievements I have made. Cerebral palsy has shown to be a very trainable condition but if you stop training for any length of time, the symptoms will return. There's no cure for cerebral palsy."
After five days of Paralympic action, China has broken free of its tie with Great Britain in the gold medal count. Australia is picking up steam, picking up six gold medals in the past two days to climb into fourth place behind the United States.
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  China |
34 | 40 | 27 | 101 |
| 2 |  Great Britain |
29 | 17 | 15 | 61 |
| 3 |  United States |
20 | 12 | 15 | 47 |
| 4 |  Australia |
13 | 15 | 14 | 41 |
| 5 |  Ukraine |
12 | 9 | 15 | 36 |
| 6 |  Russia |
11 | 12 | 11 | 34 |
| 7 |  Brazil |
9 | 7 | 10 | 26 |
| 8 |  Spain |
8 | 15 | 11 | 34 |
| 9 |  South Africa |
8 | 1 | 3 | 12 |
| 10 |  Canada |
7 | 5 | 8 | 20 |
| 11 |  Germany |
6 | 15 | 13 | 34 |
| 12 |  France |
5 | 11 | 7 | 22 |
| 13 |  South Korea |
5 | 5 | 9 | 19 |
| 14 |  Tunisia |
5 | 3 | 1 | 9 |
| 15 |  Cuba |
4 | 2 | 4 | 10 |
| 15 |  Mexico |
4 | 2 | 4 | 10 |
| 17 |  Sweden |
4 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| 18 |  Belarus |
3 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| 19 |  Czech Republic |
3 | 2 | 10 | 17 |
| 20 |  New Zealand |
3 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| 21 |  Nigeria |
3 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 22 |  Algeria |
3 | 0 | 4 | 7 |
| 23 |  Austria |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 24 |  Poland |
2 | 6 | 6 | 14 |
| 25 |  Japan |
2 | 5 | 2 | 9 |
| 26 |  Netherlands |
2 | 3 | 5 | 10 |
| 27 |  Italy |
2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| 28 |  Kenya |
2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 29 |  Denmark |
2 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 29 |  Egypt |
2 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 31 |  Greece |
1 | 3 | 4 | 8 |
| 32 |  Azerbaijan |
1 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| 33 |  Iran |
1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| 34 |  Slovakia |
1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 35 |  Thailand |
1 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| 36 |  Switzerland |
1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 37 |  Cyprus |
1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 37 |  Hong Kong |
1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 39 |  Croatia |
1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 39 |  Portugal |
1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 41 |  Hungary |
1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 42 |  Finland |
1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 42 |  Ireland |
1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 42 |  Venezuela |
1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 45 |  Latvia |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 45 |  Saudi Arabia |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 47 |  Norway |
0 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 48 |  Israel |
0 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 49 |  Jordan |
0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 50 |  Slovenia |
0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 51 |  Angola |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 51 |  Iraq |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 51 |  Lithuania |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 51 |  Morocco |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 51 |  Pakistan |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 51 |  Serbia |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 57 |  Argentina |
0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 58 |  Singapore |
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 59 |  Belgium |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 59 |  Jamaica |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 59 |  Laos |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 59 |  Lebanon |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 59 |  Malaysia |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 59 |  Namibia |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 59 |  Puerto Rico |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 59 |  Turkey |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Photo credits: AP, Xinhua
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