Paralympic Games: Jody Cundy takes bronze after being ‘robbed’ in previous event

Published on 02/09/2012 03:26

Jody Cundy bounced back from disappointment in his favoured event to claim bronze in the men’s C4 4km individual pursuit in the velodrome yesterday.

Cundy was disqualified from the 1km time trial on Friday and raged against the decision, claiming he’d wasted four years of his life.

Yesterday he clocked 1:05.317 after 1km – a time good enough to win one-kilometre time-trial gold on day two – before catching Colombia’s Diego Duenas 
little more than a lap later.

Cundy could not resist a dig at the commissaires who disqualified him on Friday. He said: “My coach just told me the kilo time was quicker than what everybody did last night so ‘up yours’ to it.

“It’s reassuring that my form’s there. I was in good shape for the gold medal last night and kind of robbed, but there we go, I got a bronze tonight and I’ll treat that as my gold.”

Scot Gordon Reid believes he’s ready to defy his world rankings after starting his wheelchair tennis campaign with a solid victory.

Reid lost in the first round at his Paralympic debut in Beijing but was a confident 6-1, 6-2 winner over Japan’s Takuya Miki in London. The No 9 seed will now face Brazil’s Daniel Alves Rodrigues or Colombia’s Eliecer Oquendo Barrios in the second round and he’s brimming with confidence.

“I’m really pleased,” he said. “I thought I played well, I played pretty solid. I didn’t make many mistakes and once I got used to the conditions I managed to play some pretty good tennis.

“I think it is never easy to win a tennis match especially against a guy who is in the top 20 in the world so I am really happy with that. I don’t think I’m at the top of the game just yet, I was almost easing into the tournament a little.

“To get out there after all the build-up was good and get out there and get that feeling of the crowd behind me was unbelievable.

“It was more than I ever could have expected really and to have so many of 
my friends and close family was really special for me. I loved it.”