WASHINGTON: South Korea’s Ko Jin-young shot a 5-under 67 to grab a two shot lead at the LPGA Tour’s FM Championship after the third round at TPC Boston on Saturday.

Ko’s compatriot Ryu Hae-ran, whose stunning 10-under 62 on Friday had earned her a six-stroke lead, had a nightmare round, shooting a six-over 78 and fell to four shots off the lead.

Ko made four birdies before the turn and although she suffered a setback with a bogey at the par-4 15th, she bounced back with birdies on the last two holes.

The 29-year-old Ko, a two-time major champion, has 15 career wins on the LPGA Tour and was the LPGA’s Player of the Year in 2019 and 2021.

She is looking for her first win of 2024, however, with her most recent victory coming at the Cognizant Founders Cup in May last year.

On the 12 occasions when Ko has led going into the final round of an LPGA event she has emerged as the winner nine times.

“I’m trying to be a very competitive person; that’s why if I get in the lead, I think it’s good motivation for me,” said Ko.

“This golf course is not easy, so I think I need to focus myself and just repeat to myself, ‘You can do it, you got this.’ I’m looking forward for tomorrow,” she added.

In-form American Lauren Coughlin shot a 3-under 69, making her the only player to shoot in the 60’s in all three rounds, and sits just two shots behind Ko heading into the final round.

Coughlin, who made four birdies and a bogey, wasn’t happy with her performance but after picking up her first two wins on the tour this year, with her second coming this month at the Scottish Open, she has a chance of making it three.

“But I’m not going to worry about that too much tomorrow. I’m definitely feeling a little tired, and so just trying to preserve as much energy as I have, which is all I can do. Focus on what I can control, which is me,” she said.

A trio of players are three shots off the lead — Spain’s Carlota Ciganda, American Allizen Corpuz and Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul.

PARIS: The US won their first two track and field titles of the Paris Paralympics on Saturday but China piled on the medals to stretch their lead in the table.

On the same track at the Stade de France where his compatriot Noah Lyles won the Olympic gold nearly four weeks ago, Jaydin Blackwell charged to the men’s T38 100m final in a world record time of 10.64sec.

Blackwell, who has cerebral palsy, donned a pair of sunglasses to celebrate his victory.

“I had to bring something over here to put a little pizzazz into things,” the 20-year-old said.

“It was the perfect race, but I was just focused on what I had to do and get to the line as fast as possible.”

There was more USA success as wheelchair racer Daniel Romanchuk upstaged reigning champion Marcel Hug of Switzerland in an exciting men’s 5000m T54 final.

Romanchuk, a 26-year-old who was born with spina bifida, burst past five-time gold medallist Hug in the home straight, leaving the Swiss in silver medal position while Faisal Alrajehi took a rare Paralympic medal for Kuwait in third.

British veteran David Weir, a multiple Paralympic medallist, faded and finished eighth.

Romanchuk has impressive range having taken gold at 400m at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics and has also won the Chicago, New York and Boston marathon wheelchair races.

China’s added an early gold medal on Saturday thanks to javelin thrower Yuping Zhao, who set a world record of 47.06 meters in the F12 category for athletes with a moderate visual impairment.

The Chinese team had moved up to 20 golds by the end of Saturday’s action, showing that the nation that has topped the medals table at every Paralympics since Athens in 2004 is well on the way to repeating that feat.

In the pool, Brazilian swimmer Gabriel dos Santos Araujo, known as Gabrielzinho, won his second title of the Paris Games by taking the 50m backstroke gold in the S2 category.

Gabrielzinho has stumps where his arms should be and his legs are atrophied, although he can walk.

Britain remained in second place in the medal standings with 11 golds as Alice Tai won her first individual Paralympic title, taking the S8 100m backstroke gold and Stephen Clegg and William Ellard both set world records to triumph in their events.

The USA finished the day with five golds and fifth in the table.

In other sports, the USA men’s wheelchair basketball team thrashed the Netherlands 60-34 with Brian Bell top-scoring on 18 points. The Americans have two wins out of two as they bid to retain their title.

The country expected to give them a run for their money, Great Britain, were convincing 88-58 winners over Canada.

In men’s sitting volleyball, gold medal hopefuls Bosnia booked their place in the semifinals, while Egypt kept their hopes of reaching the last four alive by beating hosts France.

Reigning champions Iran return to action on Sunday.

In track cycling, home favorite Dorian Foulon sent the Paris velodrome into raptures by defending his C5 4000m individual pursuit title in emphatic fashion by beating Ukraine’s Yehor Dementyev.

He said the contrast with the gold he won three years ago in Tokyo, where Covid restrictions meant there were no spectators, was huge.

“The big difference is the crowd, it’s crazy. People had t-shirts with my name on. What is this madness?” a tearful Foulon joked after the medal ceremony.

There was a setback for the organizers as the final training session for Sunday’s triathlon events was canceled due to concerns about the water quality of the River Seine.

The training session had been due to take place on Saturday morning but was scrapped “as a precaution” after heavy rain in the French capital which can stir up pollution.

The issue of the water quality of the Seine also dogged the Olympics, although the triathlons and marathon swimming events did eventually go ahead.