Erik Kaskabayev spent his Wednesday night pouring his coronary heart into what could have been the very best match in his sporting life. He simply helped propel the Kazakhstan group to its finest end ever of their Paralympics historical past, scoring 11 massive factors within the Asian aspect’s 3-0 defeat of Brazil on the Paris 2024 Paralympic Video games in North Paris Enviornment.
Their eighth-place end at Atlanta 1996 was the final recognized Paralympics milestone for Kazakhstan’s programme.
“For 28 years, we couldn’t make an look within the Paralympics, and this time we received to play,” mentioned the 38-year previous participant.
Kazakhstan booked their slot for Paris by way of the ParaVolley Asia Oceania Zonal Championships they hosted at residence in Astana in 2023.
As they made the journey to Paris, they continued to make some shiny milestones of their second Paralympics marketing campaign.
On August 31, they pushed multi-medallists Bosnia and Herzegovina into the decider.
“We misplaced the match, however we had been shocked with ourselves to have the ability to achieve this properly towards two-time Paralympic champions,” Kaskabayev remarked.
“The match with Egypt was additionally memorable as they’ve been bronze medallists up to now. They’re a robust group in order that was problem for us,” he mentioned, recalling their 3-1 loss on September 2.
“Right this moment’s victory with Brazil , which is unquestionably one other robust group, is such an enormous achievement for us.”
Kaskabayev remained joyful in Kazakhstan’s current achievement, but decided for the group’s future.
“We’re repeatedly rising as a group on this programme.
“Hopefully, this expertise in Paris was platform for us, so for the subsequent likelihood that we’ve on the Paralympics, we will be utterly prepared,” he mentioned.
Photograph: WPV/Sinisa Kanizaj.
