BASKETBALL: It's the final stage of the wheelchair hoops tournament, one that's been overshadowed by Iran's decision to forfeit its final games instead of playing enemy Israel. Powerful and undefeated Canada, seeking its third consecutive Paralympic gold medal, has moved to the final after a 69-62 victory over the United States in double overtime. The champs were down 25-12 after one quarter, but used the last three to cut into the U.S. lead. Australia, which beat Great Britain 67-54 in the other semi, will attempt to end the Canadian gold streak.

VOLLEYBALL: The United States-China women's goalball final was close, but the gold medal match between those two countries in women's sitting volleyball certainly wasn't. The Chinese team successfully defended its Athens 2004 title with a convincing straight-set win over the Americans, 25-14, 25-19 and 25-15. The match was played in front of a boisterous crowd of 5,000, which saw the homestanding red-clads take full advantage of a series of U.S. errors.

These games will be remembered (among those who will remember them) for all the right reasons -- inspiring athletes, incredible organization, and the kind of standout stars that any event of this type needs. Natalie du Toit of South Africa won her fifth swimming gold on Sunday with a close victory in the 50m freestyle, and graced the Watercube with three world-record performances this week. Double-leg amputee Oscar Pistorius has lit up the track at the Bird's Nest with an electrifying sprint double.

But these high points should not obscure the need for reform in the Paralympics system. The athletes are tested and classified as per their disabilities, primarily on official diagnosis from physicians. But they are subject to reclassification or disqualification at any time at the discretion of observers representing the sporting federations. On several occasions, this divide between doctors and experts has resulted in chaos.

Irish seven-a-side football player Derek Malone, after a particularly productive game last week, was removed from the team by the classification cops, who deemed his cerebral palsy as not impactful enough on his playing ability. Australian track and field athlete Jess Gallagher was then judged not blind enough to compete in her class, and was asked to leave the games.

But the saddest episode was that of British discus thrower Rebecca Chin. The 16-year-old won a silver medal in the F37/38 event, after being reclassified to the cerebral palsy division after a rediagnosis of a balance problem before leaving for Beijing. She had originally been scheduled to compete in a division for lower limb impediments. But after her medal ceremony, the International Paralympic Committee declassified Chin altogether and took away her medal. An IPC spokesperson said that she "showed significantly different skill sets and subsequently the chief classifier lodged a protest under exceptional circumstances."

Tim Jones, manager of the Great Britain delegation, commented to the Daily Mail yesterday.

"Top line is that she is a 16-year-old and I don't want her hung out to dry by the process. She has been an absolute failure of the system. She is taking it as well as you could hope."

The bottom line is that the Paralympic Games want to be taken seriously, and is trying to keep its sports purely for those who are disenfranchised by the Olympics due to physical ailments. But reclassifications, snap judgements and medal snatchings are hopelessly farcical. Perhaps the Paralympics will learn the lessons the Olympics took years to understand in regards to amateurism -- set simple rules, forget the minutiae that detracts from the competitions, and never change your policies between ceremonies.

On the eighth day, China strengthened its grip on the medal count by winning 14 golds and 29 overall. But the biggest move in the standings was made by Canada, which jumped from 10th to sixth with nine medals in one day, five of them gold. Two of those were claimed by wheelchair racer Chantal Petitcler, who won the 200m and the 800m races in the T54 division, upping her personal haul to four championships.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	63	54	42	159
2	Great Britain	41	23	26	90
3	United States	30	26	24	80
4	Ukraine	20	15	24	59
5	Australia	18	26	24	68
6	Canada	17	8	18	43
7	South Africa	17	2	5	24
8	Russia	16	20	18	54
9	Germany	13	20	20	53
10	Spain	13	19	17	49
11	Brazil	12	9	14	35
12	South Korea	8	6	11	25
13	France	7	20	12	39
14	Mexico	7	2	7	16
15	Tunisia	6	8	2	16
16	Czech Republic	6	2	13	21
17	Cuba	5	3	6	14
18	New Zealand	5	3	4	12
19	Sweden	5	2	3	10
20	Kenya	5	2	1	8
21	Italy	4	6	4	14
22	Belarus	4	6	1	11
23	Egypt	4	3	4	11
24	Algeria	4	1	5	10
25	Poland	3	10	11	24
26	Japan	3	9	6	18
27	Netherlands	3	8	7	18
28	Greece	3	6	5	14
29	Nigeria	3	3	1	7
30	Denmark	3	1	4	8
31	Austria	3	1	0	4
32	Iran	2	5	1	8
33	Switzerland	2	2	4	8
34	Hong Kong	2	1	1	4
34	Ireland	2	1	1	4
34	Morocco	2	1	1	4
37	Croatia	2	1	0	3
38	Portugal	1	4	1	6
39	Thailand	1	3	5	9
40	Azerbaijan	1	3	4	8
41	Norway	1	3	3	7
42	Cyprus	1	2	1	4
42	Slovakia	1	2	1	4
44	Latvia	1	2	0	3
45	Finland	1	1	2	4
46	Saudi Arabia	1	1	0	2
47	Hungary	1	0	5	6
48	Venezuela	1	0	2	3
49	Chinese Taipei	1	0	1	2
49	Turkey	1	0	1	2
51	Mongolia	1	0	0	1
52	Israel	0	5	1	6
53	Jordan	0	2	1	3
54	Angola	0	2	0	2
54	Lithuania	0	2	0	2
54	Serbia	0	2	0	2
57	Argentina	0	1	3	4
58	Singapore	0	1	2	3
58	Slovenia	0	1	2	3
60	Iraq	0	1	0	1
60	Pakistan	0	1	0	1
60	Romania	0	1	0	1
63	Lebanon	0	0	2	2
64	Belgium	0	0	1	1
64	Bulgaria	0	0	1	1
64	Colombia	0	0	1	1
64	Estonia	0	0	1	1
64	Jamaica	0	0	1	1
64	Laos	0	0	1	1
64	Malaysia	0	0	1	1
64	Namibia	0	0	1	1
64	Puerto Rico	0	0	1	1
64	Syria	0	0	1	1

(Photo credit: Xinhua)