A total of 428 of the 472 medal events have been completed. On the penultimate day of the Paralympics, finals will be held in athletics (including Oscar Pistorius' run at a 100/200/400 treble), seven-a-side football, powerlifting, table tennis, fencing, and wheelchair team sports basketball (featuring the juggernaut Canadians) and the aforementioned rugby tournament.

VOLLEYBALL: Iran had a difficult sporting weekend -- between the basketball team's sudden and controversial withdrawal from the tourney to the country's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordering a full investigation into the "miserable" performance of Iranian athletes at last month's Olympics (two medals, one gold in taekwondo), there hasn't been much good news. On Monday, there was nothing miserable about the Islamic republic's gold medal victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina in the men's sitting volleyball tournament in a 25-22, 18-25, 17-16 three-setter. It was Iran's fifth Paralympic gold medal in its history.

BASKETBALL: The United States women's team, showing the same level of dominance as has their able-bodied compatriots, won its second consecutive Paralympic gold medal with a 50-38 win over Germany. No German player scored more than six points in the Americans' defensive lockdown.

TENNIS: The wheelchair version of this sport is played on a regulation court, and allows two bounces instead of one. The Beijing games were another triumph for Esther Vergeer, a Dutch player who had full use of her body until age six, but lost control of her legs when surgery for a brain hemorrhage went wrong. As she grew older, Vergeer became a powerful wheelchair tennis player. Vergeer and partner Jiske Griffioen lost in the gold medal doubles match on Day 9. But after winning the women's singles, she has a match streak of 349, making her one of the most dominant athletes in the world.

With two days remaining in the 2008 Paralympics, China has built an unassailable lead over the rest of the field. Second-place Great Britain did not hear its anthem played once on Day 9, but the host nation collected 17 gold medals to nearly double the Brits' total. China collected 28 total medals yesterday.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	80	60	47	187
2	Great Britain	41	27	28	96
3	United States	33	33	26	92
4	Ukraine	23	17	29	69
5	Australia	20	26	25	71
6	Canada	18	9	20	47
7	Russia	17	20	20	57
8	South Africa	17	2	5	24
9	Spain	14	20	21	55
10	Germany	13	23	20	56
11	Brazil	13	12	16	41
12	France	10	21	15	46
13	Tunisia	9	9	2	20
14	South Korea	9	8	13	30
15	Mexico	8	3	7	18
16	Czech Republic	6	3	17	26
17	Poland	5	12	13	30
18	Netherlands	5	10	7	22
19	Greece	5	9	8	22
20	Cuba	5	3	6	14
21	New Zealand	5	3	4	12
21	Sweden	5	3	4	12
23	Kenya	5	3	1	9
24	Japan	4	10	7	21
25	Italy	4	7	5	16
26	Belarus	4	7	1	12
27	Egypt	4	3	4	11
28	Algeria	4	2	7	13
29	Iran	3	5	1	9
30	Nigeria	3	3	1	7
31	Denmark	3	2	4	9
32	Hong Kong	3	2	2	7
33	Morocco	3	1	2	6
34	Austria	3	1	0	4
34	Croatia	3	1	0	4
36	Azerbaijan	2	3	4	9
37	Switzerland	2	2	4	8
38	Slovakia	2	2	1	5
39	Ireland	2	1	1	4
40	Portugal	1	4	2	7
41	Thailand	1	3	5	9
42	Norway	1	3	3	7
43	Cyprus	1	2	1	4
44	Latvia	1	2	0	3
45	Finland	1	1	2	4
45	Singapore	1	1	2	4
47	Saudi Arabia	1	1	0	2
48	Hungary	1	0	5	6
49	Venezuela	1	0	2	3
50	Chinese Taipei	1	0	1	2
50	Turkey	1	0	1	2
52	Mongolia	1	0	0	1
53	Israel	0	5	1	6
54	Jordan	0	2	1	3
55	Angola	0	2	0	2
55	Lithuania	0	2	0	2
55	Serbia	0	2	0	2
58	Argentina	0	1	3	4
59	Slovenia	0	1	2	3
60	Iraq	0	1	1	2
61	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0	1	0	1
61	Pakistan	0	1	0	1
61	Papua New Guinea	0	1	0	1
61	Romania	0	1	0	1
61	United Arab Emirates	0	1	0	1
66	Lebanon	0	0	2	2
67	Belgium	0	0	1	1
67	Bulgaria	0	0	1	1
67	Colombia	0	0	1	1
67	Estonia	0	0	1	1
67	Jamaica	0	0	1	1
67	Laos	0	0	1	1
67	Malaysia	0	0	1	1
67	Namibia	0	0	1	1
67	Puerto Rico	0	0	1	1
67	Syria	0	0	1	1

(Photo credit: Getty Images)