Two Paralympic Gold Medals for Hungary This Sunday

Table tennis player Péter Pálos won the second gold medal for Hungary at the Tokyo Paralympic Games, while the country’s third gold at this competition came in the women’s 100-meter breaststroke event that was won by Fanni Illés.

Péter Pálos defeated Samuel Philip von Einem of Australia 3 sets to 2 in the final. The 35-year-old Hungarian had won 3-2 against Lucas Créange of France in the semi-final the day before.

It is reported to have been an incredibly exciting final: Pálos had four match points, but the Australian came back to 10-9 and the Hungarian won the deciding fifth set by a minimal margin. “I wouldn't have given a penny for this win, I gave up at least once or twice in every match. I thought I would not be able to come back,” he assessed his victory.

Based on the entry times, Fanni Illés qualified with the best time of 1:44.68 minutes from the from the qualifying heat in the S4 category of the women’s 100-meter breaststroke, and therefore was considered the biggest favorite to win the event, the state news agency MTI reports.

In the final, the 2019 world champion was second at 50 meters in the four-lap event but she came to win the title with 1:44.41 minutes.

After the final, she said she had tried to stay as calm as possible and think of it as a training session or a national championship. She had not been able to rest before, so by the time they got back to the pool in the afternoon she felt like she was going to collapse, she was so tired. "By then, I had swum the final so many times in my head, I was so mentally pumped up that I was physically tired in it. Then somehow it all came together. I looked left and right in the last twenty-five meters and thought, whoever loses from here deserves it," the 29-year-old swimmer said.