Sweden and Germany were both victorious on the opening day of play.

The Swedes claimed a 6-2 win over Romania while Germany emphatically ran out 10-0 winners over Portugal.

There was also some swimming action today.

The races are decided by points according to the swimmers’ classes and the time they clock.

Misha Palazzo delighted his home crowd by taking gold in the men's 200 metres freestyle S14 final.

He touched the wall in 2 min 5.00secs to claim 1,109 points and beat Finland's Nader Khalili, who finished in second on 1,080.

Frenchman Jordan Meny rounded out the podium in third on 863.

Italy's Salvatore Urso could not match Palazzo and had to settle for silver in the men's 100m backstroke S11-S13 final.

He was comfortably beaten by Germany's Taliso Engel, who claimed first with 835.

Urso took second on 769 while Denmark's Peter Refer occupied third after collecting 544.

More than 600 Para-athletes from 26 countries are competing in eight sports at the event in Savona and Genoa, which is due to finish on Sunday (October 15). 

Athletics, boccia, seven-a-side football, goalball, judo, sailing, swimming and table tennis are the sports on the programme at the Games, organised by the European Paralympic Committees in conjunction with the Italian Paralympic Committee.

The event is the fourth edition of the European Para Youth Games.

It was first held in Brno in the Czech Republic in 2011 and 2012 before Varazdin in Croatia hosted the 2015 Games.