Brazil bonanza at Montreal Boccia World Open

Brazil topped the medal table with three gold and one silver medals at the Boccia International Sports Federation (BISFed) 2018 Montreal Boccia World Open.

London 2012 Paralympic champion Maciel Santos won the first gold for his country, going unbeaten in the individual BC2 event.

On the same day his fellow and world No.14 José Carlos Chagas de Oliveira Brazil’s winning streak by capturing a surprise gold in the BC1 class. He defeated a strong field including Rio 2016 gold medallist David Smith 6-3 in the semi-final and Russia’s* Mikhail Gutnik 7-3 in the final.

Although Brazil missed out on an individual medal in the BC3 class, the teamwork between Antonio Leme, Evelyn de Oliveira and Evani Soares da Silva Calado led to gold in the BC3 pairs category.

The Brazilians were beaten to gold in the BC1/BC2 pairs category by Japan. Paulo Renato Noronha, Natali de Faria, Guilherme Moreaes, Santos and Chagas de Oliveira had to settle for silver behind Takayuki Hirose, Hidetaka Sugimura and Takumi Nakamura. It was a sweet victory for the Japanese, who all failed to reach the final in their respective individual events.

Great Britain also showed their class ahead of a home World Championships later this year by winning two golds and two bronze medals.

Reigning world no.1 Stephen McGuire dominated both the individual and pairs events of the BC4 class.

McGuire beat Canada’s Alison Levine 6-1 in the final of the individual match, and along with his partner Evie Edwards, achieved his second gold in the pairs, completing a dominant 5-0 win over Colombia.

Hong Kong were another nation to claim gold thanks to world No.6 Yuen Kei Ho. He beat South Korea’s Han Soo Kim 1-3 in the final of the BC3 class.

South Korea got their revenge in the BC1/ BC2 pairs bronze medal, thrashing Hong Kong 8-0 through Dohyun Kim, Jeongmin Sohn, Youngjin Lee.

Colombia, Australia and Russia* took two medals each in Montreal. As well as BC4 pairs silver with partner Duban Cely, Euclides Grisales became a bronze medallist in the individual BC4 class.

Australia’s Daniel Michel not only earned a bronze medal in the BC3 class, but also finished second in the pairs BC3 game with teammate Spencer Cotie.

Russia’s Mikhail Gutnik achieved BC1 individual silver, and the country’s BC4 pairs added bronze on the last day at the event.

*Editor's note: The International Paralympic Committee suspended the Russian Paralympic Committee on 7 August 2016 for its inability to fulfil its IPC membership responsibilities and obligations, in particular its obligation to comply with the IPC Anti-Doping Code and the World Anti-Doping Code (to which it is also a signatory). As a result of the suspension, Russian athletes cannot enter IPC sanctioned events or competitions, including the Paralympic Games.

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