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Paralympics closing ceremony has Paris partying
The Paris 2024 Paralympics concluded with a sparkling closing ceremony on Sunday to round off a fantastic summer of sport in the French capital.
Twenty-four artists from the French electronic music scene led a party atmosphere despite heavy rain at the Stade de France in front of 4,400 athletes from 168 Paralympic delegations.
Chief Paris 2024 organiser Tony Estanguet said the Games and the Olympics had created a “historic summer”.
The former Olympic canoeist Estanguet added “France had a date with history, and the country showed up” and said 2024 will be “etched in people’s memories”.
The International Paralympic Committee president Andrew Parsons said France set a “benchmark” for future Games.
“For a country famous for its fashion and its food, France is now famous for its fans,” he said.
Poppy Maskill and Matt Bush were Great Britain’s flagbearers for the ceremony, which closed the 11-day contest.
Great Britain’s flag bearers Matt Bush and Poppy Maskill [BBC]
Maskill, 19, won three golds in a total of five medals, which is the joint most by a British athlete in Paris alongside swimming team-mate Alice Tai and wheelchair racer Sammi Kinghorn.
Bush, 35, won GB’s first title in Para-taekwondo by taking gold in the men’s K44 +80kg.
GB’s 215-strong squad finished second, behind China, in the medal table at Paris with 124 medals (49 golds, 44 silvers and 31 bronzes).
Great Britain matched their overall medal total from Tokyo three years ago but won eight more golds in Paris.
Poor weather did hamper some of the ceremony.
Organisers said the cauldron housing the Paralympic flame, in the form of the base of a hot air balloon, which has risen into the air every evening, was unable to make its last journey skywards from the Tuileries Gardens on Sunday because of high winds and rain.
French boccia player Aurelie Aubert extinguished the Paralympic flame surrounded by other athletes from the host country.
And, with rain pouring down, Paris then partied as French electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre, 76, introduced an hour-long set featuring numerous DJs.
The next summer Paralympics takes place in Los Angeles, USA in 2028 and Broadway star Ali Stoker sung the American national anthem as part of the closing ceremony.
American rapper Anderson Paak also led a performance against the backdrop of Venice Beach to whet the appetite for the next Games in Los Angeles.
Paris 2024 Paralympics closing ceremony in pictures
French singer Santa got the party started at the beginning of the ceremony [BBC]
France’s President Emmanuel Macron was booed by some inside the Stade de France [BBC]
Great Britain’s delegation watched on. More than half of ParalympicsGB’s 215 athletes made the podium at some point during the Paris Games [BBC]
Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass was sheltered under an umbrella as she waved the Paralympic flag [BBC]
Dancers celebrated France’s hip hop scene [BBC]
French boccia player Aurelie Aubert blew out the Paralympic Flame [BBC]
Broadway star Ali Stoker sung the American national anthem, marking Los Angeles as the host of the next summer Paralympics in 2028 [BBC]
Jean-Michel Jarre began a stirring DJ set which closed out a sparkling ceremony [BBC]
[BBC]
The annual rugby encounter between Dharmaraja College and Kingswood College, played for the William Weerasinghe Memorial Trophy, is set to take place tomorrow (July 11, 2026), at 4:00 PM at the Bogambara Stadium, Kandy.
The official unveiling of the trophy took place this week at the Dharmaraja College premises with the participation of the Principals of the two schools, teachers-in-charge of sports, coaches, the Rugby teams, and several distinguished guests, including Dharmaraja College Old Boys’ Association President Mahesh Wijetunga, Kingswood College Old Boys’ Association President Muditha Abeykoon,
by S K SAMARANAYAKE
It has been reported quoting family sources that veteran singer Mariazelle Goonetilleke has passed away this morning (10) at the age of 68
She had been receiving treatment at the Kalubowila Teaching Hospital.
The US and Iran again traded strikes in exchanges that continued into Thursday, as observers reported a “dramatic” drop in the number of ships travelling through the Strait of Hormuz.
The US says it hit 90 military targets, some near the Strait. Iran says 14 people have been killed in the past two days.
State media also reported that targets near the Bushehr nuclear power plant were hit, citing the deputy governor of the province. The US has not commented on the latest strikes.
Iran said it targeted US assets in Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar in response. Later on Thursday, Tehran launched more strikes on sites in Kuwait, Jordan and Iraq, state-linked media reported.
Separately, huge crowds gathered as Iran’s late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was buried after six days of funeral events.
Crowds massed on the streets of Mashhad in north-eastern Iran waving Iranian flags, while some were pictured holding signs carrying death threats directed at US President Donald Trump.
Khamenei was killed on 28 February during the first hours of US and Israeli strikes against Iran.
Iran’s foreign ministry denounced the latest US strikes as a “grave war crime”, describing the US administration as “evil and psychopathic”
Bridges and a railway route connecting Tehran to the city of Mashhad, where the late supreme leader’s funeral is being held, were also damaged, the foreign ministry said.
Iran’s health ministry said 14 people had been killed and 78 people injured across five provinces.
Gulf nations reported Iranian attacks following the US strikes, with explosions in Bahrain’s capital Manama, Kuwait intercepting missiles and drones, and Qatar issuing a security alert.
Later on Thursday, explosions were heard in Iran’s southern port of Konarak, with a local official telling Iran’s official news agency a navy site was attacked by an “enemy”.
However a US defence official told the BBC it had not carried out any strikes in Iran in recent hours.
The funeral of Iran’s late supreme leader Ali Khamenei is being held in the city of Mashhad [BBC]
Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who is also the country’s chief negotiator with the US, said on X that America “still hasn’t learned that bullying and breaking promises are no longer cost-free”.
“Let me put it plainly: if you strike, you’ll get hit,” he wrote, adding that the Strait of Hormuz will only open under Iranian arrangements – not “American threats”.
US Central Command (Centcom) said the most recent round of strikes was carried out to “further degrade Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping and innocent civilian mariners” in the vital waterway.
In a statement, it said it had struck 90 Iranian military targets, which included air defense systems and military logistics infrastructure along Iran’s coastline.
“The latest strikes follow successful execution of offensive strikes in Iran the night before,” Centcom added.
Phil Belcher, marine director at Intertanko, an international organisation for independent tanker owners, said the number of ships travelling through the Strait via the southern route closer to Oman was now in “single figures” following the step up in hostilities.
Belcher added that the overall daily figure of about 30 ships was down from about 70 a week ago and well below the normal number of 130 ships that was seen before the Iran war began earlier this year.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that there had been an “exuberance of optimism” around shipping in the region following the signing of the SMemorandum Of Understanding between Iran and the US last month, but now the mood has changed.
“This cycle of violence, this cycle of up-and-down, positive-negative news, it’s having an enormous impact both on business and on the seafarers themselves,” he said.
On Wednesday night Iranian state TV reported eight explosions in Bandar Abbas, and said two missiles had hit the ports of both Sirik and Jask – also in southern Iran.
It added that two projectiles had hit the island of Abu Musa, which has been the subject of a longstanding ownership dispute between Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
The extent of damage from the US strikes is not yet known, but Iranian media have reported power cuts in Chabahar and a fire at an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) barracks in Bushehr. Images on social media showed damage to a marine control tower in Chabahar.
Earlier on Wednesday, Centcom wrote in a statement that it held Iran accountable for “recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping and civilian crews freely navigating a vital international waterway.”
President Trump said late on Wednesday that Iran had “called a little while ago” and wanted to make a deal “so badly”.
Trump added: “I just don’t know if they’re worthy of making a deal – I don’t know that they’re going to honour the deal, that’s the problem.”
The current flare up has been the worst exchange of strikes between the US and Iran since the deal – known as a memorandum of understanding (MoU) – was signed on 17 June.
Trump said the ceasefire agreement signed last month with Iran was now “over”. He told reporters: “I don’t want to deal with them anymore, they’re scum. You know what scum is? They’re scum. They’re sick people.”
In response, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post on X: “We do not answer vulgarity with vulgarity, but with action: fearlessly and with great valour.”
The deal between the US and Iran included 14 points, among them a 60-day period for a ceasefire during which negotiations should continue, the safe passage of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz and the US lifting sanctions on Iran.
The 60-day period for negotiations is not yet up, but Trump said he saw further talks as “a waste of time”.
[BBC]
Dharmaraja and Kingswood set for historic rugby clash on Saturday
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Tensions erupt in Indian state after 11-year-old raped and murdered
US and Iran trade attacks as Khamenei is buried
Several spells of showers will occur in the Western, Sabaragamuwa and North-western provinces and in Galle, Matara, Kandy and Nuwara-Eliya districts
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