Paralympics: Chinese fencers shine, Australian swimmer wins sixth gold

London: China`s gold tally reached 53 at the Paralympics thanks to wheelchair fencing, while Australian para-swimmer Jacqueline Freney took her sixth gold medal from her sixth event to become the most crowned athlete here.

China are topping the standings with 53 gold, 39 silver, 40 bronze medals followed by hosts Britain with 23-30-26 and Russia 23-22-17, reports Xinhua. The 12-gold wheelchair fencing kicked off and Chinese fencers entered all the four finals Tuesday clinching three golds and a silver. At the Beijing Paralympics, China took six gold medals in the wheelchair fencing. Enjoying a flying start, the Chinese team manager Fan Hong is optimistic of taking more gold. He attributed the success to the hard training and the full support from the government. "Fencing is a delicate sport, the wheelchair one in particular. You have to pay more attention to every detail," Fan said. "My fencers do very well in daily practice and they are very confident in their matches." In the seven gold medals collected by China Tuesday three were from wheelchair fencing, two from track and field, one from archery, and one from swimming. In the pool, it was six out of six so far for Australia`s Freney. She set a Paralympic record on her way to gold in the S7 women`s 50m freestyle. She had already been crowned in 100m freestyle, 50m butterfly, 100m backstroke, 200m individual medley and 4x100m freestyle relay. With two more races to go, the 400m freestyle and 4x100m medley relay, Freney is expected to bring about more surprises. Born in 1992 and suffering cerebral palsy, Freney began competing in swimming carnivals in New South Wales` north coast when she was six. Her parents managed public swimming pools for a living and so swimming has always been a huge part of her life. Freney was awarded an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship in May 2008, and then took three bronze medals in the Beijing Paralympic Games. IANS