Grigoris Polychronidis Wins Silver at Boccia in Tokyo Paralympic Games

Greece added another medal to its tally at the Tokyo Paralympic Games on Wednesday, bringing the total medals won by the nation to seven.

Grigoris Polychronidis won the silver at boccia, a precision ball sport, similar to bocce, and related to bowls and pétanque. The sport is contested at local, national and international levels, by athletes with severe physical disabilities.

39-year-old Polychronidis lost in the final to Adam Peska of the Czech Republic.

The Greek Paralympic athlete, ranked first in the World Ranking List since 2018, has won four Paralympic Medals (Gold in London 2012, Silver & Bronze in Rio 2016, Silver in Beijing 2008), as well as 35 medals in official international boccia competitions and 18 consecutive Greek Championships.

Medals for Greece in Tokyo Paralympic Games

On Tuesday, Efstratios Nikolaidis, representing Greece, won the bronze medal in the shot put.

The first medals for Greece were won on the first full day of the Paralymic Games in Tokyo, on August 25. Panagiotis Triantafyllou and Demosthenes Michalentzakis won bronze for Greece in the wheelchair individual fencing category and swimming respectively.

The following day, Powerlifter Dimitrios Bakochristos of Greece won the bronze medal in the men’s 54 kg powerlifting event at the Tokyo Paralympics.

Greek swimmer Antonios Tsapatakis won the bronze medal in the 100-meter breaststroke SB4 at the Tokyo Paralympics on Sunday, and Athanasios Konstantinidis won silver in the men’s club throw event on Saturday.

The 2020 Summer Paralympic Games started with the opening ceremony in Tokyo on August 24, 2021.

A total of 4,400 athletes with disabilities from around the world, including 46 from Greece, are competing in 22 sports.

As Tokyo hosts the event, organizers urged participants to follow coronavirus rules with increased vigilance. “The infection situation today is different to how it was before the Olympics. It has deteriorated,” said Tokyo 2020 official Hidemasa Nakamura.

Team Greece competes with a team of 46 athletes in 11 sports, including track and field, swimming, weightlifting, fencing, cycling, judo, archery and table tennis.

At the Rio Games in 2016, Greece won 13 medals (5 gold, 4 silver, 4 bronze), taking 24th place on the medal table. It was the second best place in the history of the Greek Paralympics, after the games in Beijing where it finished in 20th place.