Israel at the 2020 Summer Paralympics

Israel competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo from 24 August to 5 September 2021. The delegation includes 33 athletes – 18 women and 15 men – competing in 11 sports: athletics, badminton, boccia, goalball, paracanoeing, powerlifting, rowing, shooting, swimming, table tennis, and wheelchair tennis.^[1]

Israel at the 2020 Summer Paralympics
IPC code	ISR
NPC	Israel Paralympic Committee
Website	www.isad.org.il
in Tokyo
Competitors	33 (15 men and 18 women) in 11 sports
Flag bearers	Nadav Levi Moran Samuel
Medals Ranked 22nd	Gold 6 Silver 2 Bronze 1 Total 9
Summer Paralympics appearances (overview)
1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024

The Games were originally scheduled to take place between 25 August and 6 September 2020, but were postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[2] They are still being called the 2020 Summer Paralympics, even with the change in scheduling to one year later.^[3]

Disability classifications

Main article: Disability sport classification

Every participant at the Paralympics has their disability grouped into one of five disability categories; amputation, the condition may be congenital or sustained through injury or illness; cerebral palsy; wheelchair athletes, there is often overlap between this and other categories; visual impairment, including blindness; Les autres, any physical disability that does not fall strictly under one of the other categories, for example dwarfism or multiple sclerosis.^[4][5] Each Paralympic sport then has its own classifications, dependent upon the specific physical demands of competition. Events are given a code, made of numbers and letters, describing the type of event and classification of the athletes competing. Some sports, such as athletics, divide athletes by both the category and severity of their disabilities, other sports, for example swimming, group competitors from different categories together, the only separation being based on the severity of the disability.^[6]

Medalists

Medal	Name	Sport	Event	Date
Gold	Iyad Shalabi	Swimming	Men's 100 m backstroke S1	25 August
Gold	Mark Malyar	Swimming	Men's 200 m individual medley SM7	27 August
Gold	Mark Malyar	Swimming	Men's 400 m freestyle S7	29 August
Gold	Ami Omer Dadaon	Swimming	Men's 200 m freestyle S4	30 August
Gold	Iyad Shalabi	Swimming	Men's 50 metre backstroke S1	2 September
Gold	Ami Omer Dadaon	Swimming	Men's 50 m freestyle S4	2 September
Silver	Ami Omer Dadaon	Swimming	Men's 150 m individual medley SM4	28 August
Silver	Moran Samuel	Rowing	Woman's single sculls	29 August
Bronze	Mark Malyar	Swimming	Men's 100 m backstroke S7	30 August

Competitors

Israel's Paralympic delegation meeting with the President of Israel, Reuven Rivlin, prior to the games.

The Israeli delegation includes 33 athletes, competing in 11 sports.^[7]

Sport	Men	Women	Total
Athletics	1	0	1
Badminton	0	1	1
Boccia	1	0	1
Goalball	0	6	6
Paracanoeing	0	1	1
Powerlifting	0	1	1
Rowing	3	4	7
Shooting	1	1	2
Swimming	5	3	8
Table tennis	0	1	1
Wheelchair tennis	4	0	4
Total	15	18	33

Athletics

Main article: Athletics at the 2020 Summer Paralympics

Field events

Athlete	Event	Final
		Distance	Position
Oleksandr Aliekseienko	Men's shot put F34	9.66 SB	9

Badminton

Main articles: Badminton at the 2020 Summer Paralympics and Badminton at the 2020 Summer Paralympics – Qualification

Athlete	Event	Group Stage				Quarterfinal	Semifinal	Final / BM
		Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Nina Gorogetzky	Women's singles WH1	Zhang (CHN) L (11–21, 12–21)	Pookkham (THA) L (4–21, 9–21)	Mathez (SUI) L (15–21, 10–21)	4	Did not advance			7

Boccia

Main article: Boccia at the 2020 Summer Paralympics

Nadav Levi get a ticket for Israel in Individual BC2 events.^[8]

Individual

Athlete	Event	Preliminaries				Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final/BM	Rank
		Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score
Nadav Levi	Mixed individual BC2	de Faria (BRA) W 8–0	Fernandes (POR) W 5–2	Vongsa (THA) L 0–10	2	did not advance			11

Goalball

Main article: Goalball at the 2020 Summer Paralympics

Women's tournament

The Israeli women team qualified for the Paralympic Gamess through the 2019 European Championships on 13 October 2019.^[9] The following is the Israel roster in the women's goalball tournament of the 2020 Summer Paralympics.^[10]

No.	Player	Class	Date of birth (age)
1	Elham Mahamid	B3	(1990-02-16)16 February 1990 (aged 31)
2	Noa Malka	B3	(2003-06-15)15 June 2003 (aged 18)
3	Gal Hamrani	B1	(1992-12-01)1 December 1992 (aged 28)
4	Or Mizrahi	B3	(1993-05-07)7 May 1993 (aged 28)
5	Roni Ohayon	B2	(1999-03-08)8 March 1999 (aged 22)
6	Lihi Ben-David	B1	(1995-12-08)8 December 1995 (aged 25)

Group stage

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	China	4	3	0	1	17	7	+10	9	Quarterfinals
2	Israel	4	2	0	2	22	14	+8	6
3	RPC	4	2	0	2	13	16	−3	6
4	Australia	4	2	0	2	9	21	−12	6
5	Canada	4	1	0	3	12	15	−3	3

Source: TOCOG
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of wins; 4) goals against; 5) head-to-head goal difference.

Israel	11–1	Australia
Mizrahi 1' Ben-David 2', 2', 5', 7', 7', 14', 16' Mahamid 18', 18'	Report	Horsburgh 10'

25 August 2021

19:00

Makuhari Messe, Tokyo

Referee: Raili Sipura (Finland), Launel Scott (Canada)

---

Canada	6–2	Israel
Reinke 9', 13', 14', 16' Salehizadeh 18', 22'	Report	Mizrahi 18' Ben-David 23'

26 August 2021

20:30

Makuhari Messe, Tokyo

Referee: Bas Spaans (Netherlands), Romualdas Vaitiekus (Lithuania)

---

RPC	3–8	Israel
Arestova 9', 20' Chudina 16'	Report	Mahamid 1', 1' Mizrahi 2', 3' Ben-David 16', 19', 24', 24'

28 August 2021

17:30

Makuhari Messe, Tokyo

Referee: Robert Avery (Great Britain), Romualdas Vaitiekus (Lithuania)

---

Israel	1–4	China
Ben-David 5'	Report	Zhang Xiling 6', 6', 15' Cao Zhenhua 24'

29 August 2021

14:45

Makuhari Messe, Tokyo

Referee: Raili Sipura (Finland), Raquel Aguado Gómez (Spain)

Quarterfinal

Israel	1–4	Japan
Mahamid 13'	Report	Hagiwara 4', 5', 12', 23'

1 September 2021

15:00

Makuhari Messe, Tokyo

Referee: Raquel Aguado Gómez (Spain), Warrick Jackes (Australia)

Paracanoeing

Main article: Paracanoeing at the 2020 Summer Paralympics

Israel has qualified one athlete in Women's KL2 events.

Athlete	Event	Heats		Semifinal		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Pascale Bercovitch	Women's KL2	1:02.291	5 SF	1:00.366	5 FB	58.123	10

Qualification Legend: FA=Final A (medal); FB=Final B (non-medal); SF=semifinal

Powerlifting

Main articles: Powerlifting at the 2020 Summer Paralympics and Powerlifting at the 2020 Summer Paralympics – Qualification

Athlete	Event	Total lifted	Rank
Polina Katsman	Women's +86 kg	123	7

Rowing

Main article: Rowing at the 2020 Summer Paralympics

Israel qualified three boats for each of the following rowing classes into the Paralympic regatta. All of them qualified after successfully entering the top seven for men's and women's single sculls and top eight for mixed coxed four at the 2019 World Rowing Championships in Ottensheim, Austria.^[11]

Athlete	Event	Heats		Repechage		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Shmulik Daniel	Men's single sculls	10:22.90	3 R	9:28.78	2 FA	10:23.02	6
Moran Samuel	Women's single sculls	REL		10:33.34 PB	1 FA	11:18.39
Simona Goren Ahijah Klein Barak Hatzor Michal Feinblatt Marlaina Miller	Mixed coxed four	7:38.95	3 R	7:09.59	2 FA	7:51.42	6

Qualification Legend: FA=Final A (medal); FB=Final B (non-medal); R=Repechage

Shooting

Main article: Shooting at the 2020 Summer Paralympics

Israel paralympic shooter, Doron Shaziri earned a quate for Israel after he won a silver medal in the R7 - Men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions event at the 2018 World Shooting Para Sport World Cup. Yuliya Chernoy earned a quate for Israel after she won a bronze medal in the R6 - Mixed 50m Rifle Prone SH1 event at the 2019 World Shooting Para Sport Championships.^[12]

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
		Score	Rank	Score	Rank
Doron Shaziri	Men's 50m rifle 3 positions SH1	1150	10	did not advance
	Mixed 50m rifle prone SH1	613.5	21	did not advance
Yuliya Chernoy		616.3	10	did not advance
	Mixed 10m air rifle prone SH1	631.8	14	did not advance

Swimming

Main article: Swimming at the 2020 Summer Paralympics

Israel have qualified two quota in Swimming at the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships after Mark Malyar won a gold medal at the 400 meter freestyle swim in the S7 disability class and set a new world record (4:33 minutes) and Ami Omer Dadaon won a silver medal. Israel qualified another six quota after achieving the MQS.^[13][14][15]

Israel won eight medals in swimming events, and for the first time in the Paralympics, Israeli swimmers won gold medals. Two golds and one bronze medal were won by Mark Malyar and he set two new world records, in the men’s 200-meter individual medley and the 400m freestyle S7. Iyad Shalabi, in his fourth appearance at the Paralympics, became the first Arab-Israeli to win a medal in the Olympics or Paralympics for Israel, winning two gold medals. Ami Omer Dadaon won three medals, two gold and one silver, and set a Paralympic record in the men’s 50-meter freestyle S4 category and a world record in the 200m freestyle S4.^[16]

Men

Athlete	Event	Heats		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Ami Omer Dadaon	50m freestyle S4	38.42	2 Q	37.21 PR
	50m backstroke S4	48.28	9	did not advance
	100m freestyle S4	DSQ		did not advance
	150m individual medley SM4	2:33.92	2 Q	2:29.48
	200m freestyle S4	2:56.66	1 Q	2:44.84 WR
Bashar Halabi	100m breaststroke SB4	2:37.37	13	did not advance
Ariel Malyar	50m freestyle S4	40.48	6 Q	41.70	7
	50m backstroke S4	58.81	15	did not advance
	100m freestyle S4	1:36.04	9	did not advance
	200m freestyle S4	3:38.51	13	did not advance
Mark Malyar	50m freestyle S7	28.57	5 Q	28.49	6
	50m butterfly S7	33.90	12	did not advance
	100m backstroke S7	1:11.92	4 Q	1:10.08
	200m individual medley SM7	2:32.86	1 Q	2:29.01 WR
	400m freestyle S7	4:41.82 PR	1 Q	4:31.06 WR
Iyad Shalabi	50m backstroke S1	—		1:11.79
	100m backstroke S1	—		2:28.04
	150m individual medley SM3	4:52.88 WR[a]	12	did not advance

Notes:

1. The world record is for the SM1 classification

Women

Athletes	Event	Heat		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Yuliya Gordiychuk	100m butterfly S9	1:13.08	6 Q	1:13.35	7
	200m individual medley SM9	2:52.48	12	did not advance
	400m freestyle S9	4:58.40	10	did not advance
Veronika Guirenko	50m backstroke S3	1:11.78	10	did not advance
	50m breaststroke SB3	1:22.17	14	did not advance
	100m freestyle S3	2:37.00	11	did not advance
	150m individual medley SM4	4:32.00	16	did not advance
Erel Halevi	100m freestyle S7	1:20.08	13	did not advance
	100m backstroke S7	—		1:40.68	6
	400m freestyle S7	—		5:44.97	7

Table tennis

Main article: Table tennis at the 2020 Summer Paralympics

Israel entered one athlete into the table tennis competition at the games by the Bipartite Commission Invitation.

Women

Athlete	Event	Group Stage			Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Caroline Tabib	Individual C5	Abuawad (JOR) W 3–1	Sringam (THA) L 0–3	3	did not advance

Wheelchair tennis

Main article: Wheelchair tennis at the 2020 Summer Paralympics

Israel qualified four players entries for wheelchair tennis. Two of them qualified by the world rankings, while two of them qualified by receiving bipartite commission invitation allocation quotas.

Men

Athlete (seed)	Event	Round of 64	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final / BM
		Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Adam Berdiczewski	Men's singles	Weekes (AUS) L 0-2 (4-6, 2-6)	did not advance					33
Guy Sasson		Arai (JPN) L 0-2 (1-6, 1-6)	did not advance					33
Adam Berdiczewski Guy Sasson	Men's doubles	—	Medeiros / Pommê (BRA) W 2-0 (6-1, 2-0R)	Egberink / Scheffers (NED) L 0-2 (1-6, 1-6)	did not advance			9
Yossi Saadon	Quad singles	—		Schröder (NED) L 0-2 (1-6, 2-6)	did not advance			9
Shraga Weinberg				Vink (NED) L 0-2 (0-6, 3-6)	did not advance			9
Yossi Saadon Shraga Weinberg	Quad doubles	—			Moroishi / Sugeno (JPN) L 0-2 (5-7, 2-6)	did not advance		5

See also

• Israel at the Paralympics
• Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics

References

1. Leichman, Abigail Klein; Klug, Lisa (2021-07-11). "11 things to know as Israel gears up for Tokyo Olympics". ISRAEL21c. Retrieved 2021-08-01.
2. "Joint Statement from the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee". Olympics. 24 March 2020. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
3. "Joint Statement from the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee". olympic.org. 2020-03-24. Retrieved 2020-03-24.
4. "Paralympics categories explained". ABC. 3 September 2008. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
5. "Making sense of the categories". BBC Sport. 6 October 2000. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
6. "A-Z of Paralympic classification". BBC Sport. 28 August 2008. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
7. Spiro, Amy; Gross (2021-08-19). "Rowing, shooting, wheelchair tennis: Israel sets its sights on the Paralympics". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 2021-08-24.
8. "Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games Qualification Guide" (PDF). International Paralympic Committee. 17 November 2020. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
9. "Hosts Germany reach finals as Israel and Ukraine qualify for Tokyo 2020". International Blind Sports Federation. 13 October 2019. Archived from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
10. "Goalball - Team Israel". Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 25 August 2021. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
11. "2019 World Rowing Championships". www.worldrowing.com. 15 October 2018. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
12. "2020 Summer Paralympics Qualification Guide" (PDF). International Paralympic Committee. 17 November 2020.
13. Leichman, Abigail Klein (17 September 2019). "Israeli Paralympic swimmer sets world record, wins gold". israel21c. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
14. "Medallists by Event" (PDF). International Paralympic Committee. 15 September 2019.
15. "World Championships Slot Allocation Method" (PDF). International Paralympic Committee. 14 October 2019.
16. Burack, Emily (2 September 2021). "Israeli swimmers win 2 more golds at Tokyo Paralympics, bringing the country's medal count to record 9". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved 3 September 2021.