Paralympics rocked by cheating scandal as Aussie elevated to bronze medal after disqualification

Australia has enjoyed its most successful day at the Paris Paralympics so far, but controversy erupted on Sunday when Italian rower Giacomo Perini was embroiled in a cheating scandal. Perini was found to have a 'communication device' - believed to be a mobile phone - in his boat during the men's PR1 single sculls final - which is strictly against the rules.

Australia's Erik Horrie initially finished fourth, but was elevated to the bronze medal after Perini was disqualified by officials and relegated to last place. Horrie told Channel 9: "There was a situation that happened. World Rowing and Paralympics officials saw it and then made the decision [to disqualify Perini] and I was lucky enough to come away with the bronze.

"That's all I can say really. It's the joys of sport. There are rules, and as athletes, we stick to them. I'm just excited about getting the bronze. I'm at my fourth Games and I can say that I've medalled at every single Paralympics that I've been to."

Horrie had previously won silver medals in London, Rio and Tokyo. "This means so much," he said. "All the sacrifices my family have made [and] putting up with me in the good times and the bad times. As with all athletes, there are a lot of bad times with training and injury. So, this is for [my wife] Michelle and the kids back home. It's one of those things that's hard to explain."

Nikki Ayers and Jed Altschwager grab incredible gold medal

Nikki Ayers and Jed Altschwager had earlier kicked off Australia's most fruitful day at the Paris Games to date by winning gold ahead of Great Britain in the PR3 mixed double sculls. The Aussie duo won in a time of 7 mins, 26 seconds on Sunday.

The two rowing medals were followed by a third-place finish for Mali Lovell in the women's T36 200m at the Stade de France, and bronze for Dayna Crees in the women's F34 javelin. Australia also won a team sprint bronze at the velodrome for Gordon Allan, Korey Boddington and Alistair Donohoe.

In the pool, Rowan Crothers grabbed silver and Tom Gallagher finished third in the men's S10 100m freestyle. The team of Jack Ireland, Madeleine McTernan, Ruby Storm and Ben Hance also finished second in the mixed 4x100m freestyle S14 relay to grab silver, while Ahmed Kelly won silver in the men's 150m medley SM3 and Grant Patterson got bronze. Their achievements took Australia's medal tally for the day to 10.

Ayers grabbed gold alongside Altschwager to complete an incredible comeback from a leg amputation. The 33-year-old was a promising rugby union player before injury forced her to undergo life-changing surgery.

"It's hurting right now, but it was totally worth it," she said. "It (the medal) is a symbol of hope and never giving up on your dreams. For every person out there with a disability, male, female, everyone, never give up and keep striving for your dreams and it'll come true."

Ahmed Kelly gets silver after initial disqualification

There was more disqualification drama in the pool when Kelly was initially rubbed out in his heat. Officials initially ruled that he'd swum the wrong stroke when he did butterfly instead of freestyle in the final leg. But the Aussie team lodged an appeal and were successful, and Kelly was reinstated for the final.

Officials appeared to make a mistake in not realising that 'freestyle' actually means you can perform whatever stroke you like (except backstroke or breaststroke). "You can do whatever strokes you like - freestyle or double-arm butterfly," Annabelle Williams said on Channel 9.

"Ahmed had performed [a] double-arm butterfly, and so I can't understand why that rule seems to have been in breach. And secondly, can't do the swimming strokes in the incorrect order. He definitely didn't do that. There's video footage of him swimming the first lap on his back, the second lap doing breaststroke, and the third lap the double-arm butterfly, which is absolutely permissible when you're swimming freestyle."