Boccia players to battle in individual competitions

The Georgian-born Greek player, Grigoris Polychronidis, will go straight to the last 16 after avoiding the seeding competition that starts at 9:00.

Following three days of team and pair competition, the individual Boccia competition gets underway at the ExCel Arena on Wednesday (5 September).

Fresh from their success in the BC4 mixed pairs, Brazil’s Eliseu dos Santos and Dirceu Pinto will now battle each other for gold in the single event. After beating the Czech Republic 5-3 to defend the title they won in Beijing, they are both expected to do well in the singles event, with dos Santos hoping they will find time to help each other as the competition progresses.

“Next we have the individuals and, of course, each game will go its own way,” he explained. “We're going to play our own individual games and we'll try to do our best, but of course we're always going to support each other.”

Competing in the BC2 individual event will be Beijing 2008 gold medallist Nigel Murray of Great Britain, who has already stated that London will be his final Paralympics. Murray credited the home crowd for helping the host nation secure bronze against Portugal in the BC1-2 team event on Tuesday (4 September), and the British team captain is thrilled the players’ dedication to the sport is being rewarded with such great support.

“Boccia has given me an opportunity to compete at elite level,” he said. “I have won 17 major titles and have 2 Paralympic gold medals, one Paralympic silver medal and now a bronze to match. We are no different to any other athletes - we put the hours in every week, every month.”

The Georgian-born Greek player, Grigoris Polychronidis, will go straight to the last 16 after avoiding the seeding competition that starts at 9:00. Already in good form, having won gold in the BC3 mixed pairs for the first time in his career, he is one of the favourites to win the single event. His rivals for the podium may include Beijing bronze medallist, Ho Won Jeong from Korea, who should challenge for the title if he can put the disappointment of finishing fourth in the mixed pairs event behind him.

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Brazil's Dirceu Jose Pinto and Eliseu Dos Santos celebrate winning gold in mixed pairs boccia at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.