Boccia: Roundup of Regional Games

With only five months of the year gone, the boccia world has seen an explosion in the numbers of teams and people participating at their regional tournaments. These events are the first ranking tournament of the new quadrennium and it is clear that there is going to be a real battle for places at the 2004 Athens Paralympics.

The FESPIC Championships were hosted by the Hong Kong Federation with 53 players representing 9 nations. The games were a landmark in the development of the sport and signal further strong development in the FESPIC region. The medal positions were dominated by Korea, which picked up no fewer than four of the seven gold medals available. Host nation Hong Kong also had a good games, finishing second in the medal table.

In Europe, the Championships were hosted by the Czech Republic. This was to prove the largest European Championships to date with 109 players representing 15 nations. Competition days were long, hard and of the highest standards. It was particularly encouraging for the sport to see that over 50 percent of the players were attending their first international event. Following what might have been seen as a disappointing Paralympic Games in Sydney, the Portuguese team dominated this event by winning no fewer than five of the seven medals available, with Denmark and Spain sharing the final two medals.

The Americas Championships will again see an increase in the number of countries to nine. This development will mean that there will be potential for over 30 countries to be represented at the World Championships which will be hosted in Portugal in June 2002.

As part of the future development of the sport, we have now produced a development plan which will carry us to the 2004 Games. This is available to all nations on request. The International Boccia Commission is keen to hear from new and developing nations who may be interested in developing the sport. We would particularly like to hear from countries in the Middle East and in Africa. More information can be found at the boccia website (http://www.pearsehome.demon.co.uk). 

Jim Thomson 
Chairman, International Boccia Commission, CP-ISRA