Delight for medallist Aled, despair for Jody
ALED Davies delighted a near full Olympic Stadium by winning Great Britain's first Paralympic athletics medal.
The 21-year-old from Bridgend clinched bronze in the F42/44 shot put with a throw of 13.78 metres.
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Davies, who was making his Paralympic debut and whose main event is the discus, saved his longest throw for his sixth and final attempt, although he was already on course for the podium thanks to a third-round effort of 13.63m.
Davies, who represented Wales at swimming before turning his attention to athletics in 2006, was born with talipese and hemi-hemilia in his right leg, which means the limb is missing bones, muscle and ligaments and is supported with a brace.
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"As soon as I came out of that tunnel the whole stadium erupted," said Davies, who received another huge ovation when he received his medal.
"They didn't know who I was but I was competing for Great Britain and everyone started screaming.
"I knew going out there six of those guys had taken medals in Beijing so I needed to bring something big to the table.
"A lot of people were thinking because I had broken the world record at the start of the year I should be in for a medal shot, but there are six other guys out there who are also close to the world record.
"To manage to perform as close as I can to that and to be able to beat a lot of those guys is a big thing.
"It's my second event. I wanted to get in the final eight and maybe a top-six finish, but I did not expect to medal. I'm just overwhelmed."
Swansea's Paul Karabardak enjoyed a fine start to his table tennis campaign.
The 26-year-old from Waunarlwydd beat Young Sung Kim from Korea 3-0 in his opening group game in the Class 7 category.
It gets tougher today, though, as he faced No. 1- ranked Mykhaylo Popov of the Ukraine.
There was more drama in the velodrome.
After smashing a world record and winning silver on day one, Welsh flyer Mark Colbourne went one better and bagged gold.
Colbourne, from Tredegar, dedicated his gold medal to his late father Cecil, who died earlier this year.
"I had this dream two years ago along with Neil Smith (his trainer). He said keep working hard and your dream will become a reality," said the 42-year-old.
"I'm dedicating this win to my late father and mother obviously. I'm surprised I couldn't hear her shouting among everyone else."
However, there was no such joy for Jody Cundy, formerly based in Swansea.
An angry and distraught Cundy protested and boos rang around the velodrome after the 2008 champion was denied a restart in the men's C4/5 one-kilometre time-trial.
Cundy, a lower leg amputee and C4 rider, had a problem at the start and commissaires ruled he could not restart, provoking an expletive-laden rant from the Briton.
Officials argued the first start was down to rider error, not an equipment failure. Cundy later appeared in front of the 6,000 velodrome crowd, saying: "I would like to apologise for my language. I'm just sorry I didn't get chance to show you what four years of hard work were for."
Today, Swansea swimmer Ellie Simmonds defends the S6 400metres freestyle title in the pool in the first of her four events.
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