Japan's chance of winning its first gold medal at the Rio Paralympics was blown Monday when the four-member boccia squad was defeated by Thailand 9-4 in the mixed team BC1-2 final.
Still, the silver was the country's first-ever Paralympic medal in the sport — which is similar to bocce and one of only two Paralympics sports that have no counterpart in the Olympic program — and one of three medals earned for Japan on the fifth full day of competition in Rio.
Blind swimmer Keiichi Kimura and the men's 4x100-meter relay running team also contributed by adding a silver and bronze in their respective events, bringing Japan's total medal count to eight.