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Paul McNamara

Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has called for television bosses to significantly ramp up coverage of the “wonderful” Paralympic Games.
Klopp was in Paris to watch close friend Wojtek Czyz in para-badminton action, as the 17th summer edition began on Thursday.
Czyz, 44, began playing badminton only three years ago, after winning four Paralympic golds across the 2004 and 2008 Games as a sprinter and long jumper.
An ex-footballer, he suffered an injury in 2001 that led to the amputation of his left leg at the knee. Czyz formed a friendship with Klopp after the pair met at a charity football match during the athlete’s rehabilitation.

Klopp said he would have “shown up [to a Paralympics] earlier” had it not been for 23 unbroken years of football management. The German quit Liverpool this summer following nine years in charge, releasing him to cheer on Czyz, who competed previously for Germany but now represents New Zealand after settling in the country.
“I always watch [the Paralympics] if [I] can, because that’s where it starts, trying to find Paralympics on the television,” Klopp said. “Now it should be easy, with all the streams and things, but I think we are ready to watch much more than [TV channels] show.
“Somebody has to start with it. I understand that TV and broadcasting is a business, 100 per cent, but I really think we should show much more. It’s so encouraging, it’s so wonderful.
“Apart from football in Europe and other sports in [North] America, athletes have to be much more supported.”
Czyz was beaten 21-5, 21-2 by Great Britain’s Daniel Bethell, the Tokyo silver medallist, and joked he was unsure about inviting Klopp back to watch because “he might be a bit of a curse”.
The adopted Kiwi lost his second match to Oleksandr Chyrkov of Ukraine, meaning even victory over Japan’s Daisuki Fujihara in his final group match on Saturday would probably be insufficient for semi-final progress.
Klopp still felt Czyz’s reinvention as an elite Para athlete, coupled with his Sailing4Handicaps programme, was “the most inspiring story I’ve heard in my life”. The programme involved sailing the world with his wife to distribute prosthetic limbs to amputees in developing countries – leading him eventually to New Zealand.
“This story has to be told, because it’s not normal,” Klopp said.
“It is the sports part, it is dealing with hurdles and obstacles, it is the comeback mentality and never giving up, there are so many things and Sailing4Handicaps is the big one.”

Klopp compared Wednesday’s glitzy opening ceremony at Place de la Concorde to a Taylor Swift concert, because it was “outstanding, just 1.5 hours too long”.
But he said the pageant had fired the starting gun on an event that could emulate this year’s Olympics by drawing attention from the “big, big crisis” in the world.
“For 2½ weeks, we forgot [crisis], because that’s what sports can do and what the Paralympics can do,” Klopp said.
“That’s what I love about sport … it can change the world. Sometimes only for a moment and sometimes forever.”


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Jurgen Klopp has message for TV execs at Paralympics – and makes Taylor Swift comparison

Jurgen Klopp watches as a spectator during the badminton events at the Paralympics. Photo: dpa

Klopp said TV bosses should “show much more” of the Paralympic Games. Photo: AP

Czyz needs an unlikely sequence of events to reach the semi-finals following two group defeats. Photo: Reuters

Paris Paralympics: Jiang Yuyan beats ‘greatest pressure’ for China’s first swimming gold

China’s Jiang Yuyan won gold in the 50m freestyle S6, breaking the Paralympic record twice in one day. Photo: AFP

Jiang Yuyan said she was more nervous than in Tokyo, where she also won the 50m freestyle S6. Photo: Xinhua

China’s Chen Yi wins the 50m freestyle S10 in a world record time. Photo: Xinhua

Paris Paralympics: Zakia Khudadadi dedicates first refugee medal to ‘women of Afghanistan’

Zakia Khudadadi from the Paralympic Refugee Team is carried by her French coach Haby Niare after she won the bronze medal. Photo: AP

Zakia Khudadadi, who was granted asylum in France, was cheered on like a local throughout the day. Photo: Reuters

China’s Paralympic gold medallists lauded as ‘amazing’, ‘best of the best’ on social media

Li Zhangyu’s fifth gold medal in four Paralympic Games and new world record received widespread praise on Chinese social media. Photo: AFP

Wang Xiaomei celebrates atop the podium after winning gold in the women’s C1-3 3,000m individual pursuit. Photo: Xinhua

Paris Paralympics: China’s Li Zhangyu says cycling gold makes up for Tokyo ‘regret’

Li Zhangyu’s win in the C1 3000m individual pursuit was China’s first of four gold medals on day one of the Games. Photo: AP

Gold medallist Wang Xiaomei set a world record in the women’s C1-3 3000m individual pursuit. Photo: AFP

Sport

Former Liverpool manager is in Paris to cheer on his friend, the footballer turned para-badminton player Wojtek Czyz


Former Liverpool manager is in Paris to cheer on his friend, the footballer turned para-badminton player Wojtek Czyz.


Taylor Swift