ParalympicsGB boccia players reflect on day of mixed results

There were mixed fortunes for ParalympicsGB’s boccia players as all three teams won one and lost one on the final day of pool action.

The BC4 pairs got the better of Canada 5-2, but then were upset by Portugal, 3-1, to miss out on the semi-finals.

And after two defeats on day one, the BC1/2 team saw their slim hopes of making the last four ended with a 10-3 defeat to the Russian Paralympic Committee, having previously beaten Argentina 6-4.

The BC3 pairs saw their semi-final hopes ended with a 7-3 loss to Thailand. But they finished on a high with a 7-0 win over France, a first win of the Games for both Jamie McCowan and Beth Moulam, playing alongside Jamie’s brother, Scott.

Jamie McCowan said: “It’s such a relief to be honest. This week has been one of the toughest weeks of my career. I came here wanting to medal in both and I hadn’t won a game to that point, despite playing well in a few of them.

“It’s just a relief to get that win. I think we came out fighting and it was a hard game to come out to. We were probably low in confidence as a unit so for the three of us to come out and produce that is a really nice way to end it and just reminds us how good we actually are.

“I would say as well, Beth coming to this Paralympics – her first one, she was simply brilliant in that game, so I think it’s worth paying tribute.”

The BC4 team looked on course for the semi-finals when they overcame Canada, only to go down to the Portuguese in their final match, with Stephen McGuire gutted at missing out alongside Evie Edwards and Louis Saunders.

He said: “I’m pretty disappointed to be honest. There was nothing I would have loved any more than to provide a medal for ParalympicsGB. It’s been my dream. It’s been a fantastic tournament, the third end was where the game turned around, so credit to Portugal.”

And for individual gold medallist David Smith, alongside Will Hipwell and Claire Taggart in the BC1/2, the objective now is Paris after a promising showing.

He said: “The positives are that we came here with no expectations and we’ve worked together. It’s been great. Individuals and team, we’ve done pretty well. We’re happy with what we got.

“But we move onto the next cycle, with a lot of development still ongoing. We are looking forward to Paris, we know we have got a lot to do but we feel like we are making massive progress.

“We were outside the top 13 less than two years ago. Now we are in the top eight and are steadily improving all the time. We made strides over the pandemic so when the pandemic hopefully eases, we can keep pushing and I’m pretty confident we can be challenging even further in Paris.”