Rotterdam 2023: Daniel Perez leads hosts' gold rush

Daniel Perez won Netherlands’ first gold medal at their home European Para Championships, winning the men’s boccia BC1 event at a sun-drenched outdoor court in the centre of Rotterdam. The Dutch team captured three gold medals on the fifth day of the Championships, with Tokyo 2020 Paralympic champions Sam Schroder and Niels Vink winning the quad wheelchair tennis doubles, and Chantal Van Engelen capturing the women’s boccia BC2 gold. 

In front of a cheering home crowd, Perez beat Great Britain’s reigning Paralympic champion David Smith 5-0. In the final end, he rolled a red ball right in between the white jack and Smith’s blue ball to seal his first European title. 

“Finally! I’ve finished runner-up quite a lot of times, especially behind David so I’m happy that I took gold at such a beautiful place,” Perez said after he celebrated the victory with his friends and family. 

“It’s the first time I won the European title so this medal is very important.” 

In boccia, athletes deliver coloured leather balls as close as possible to a white target ball, known as the jack. Perez, a two-time Paralympian, competes by picking up his ball placed on the court’s surface and rolling it.  

Home hero 

The Schouwburgplein in the centre of Rotterdam was the stage for Perez's victory. While competitions were pushed back due to heavy rain, the sun started to shine when Perez took to the court.

He opened up a 2-0 advantage early in the first end, before extending that lead to storm to the title.

He is no stranger to making history, becoming Netherlands’ first-ever Paralympic medallist in boccia at Rio 2016. His coach Anisha Tersteeg said the European Para Championships medal will now have a special place in his home. 

“He said all of his medals are hanging together at one place and he will put this one next to the one from the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games,” Tersteeg said. “Normally, when we go to competitions abroad, his family doesn’t always travel with him. To have them around is simply great.” 

Smith, who has won five medals across four Paralympic Games, said, “I am a little bit disappointed. I had a chance in the second end and if I had scored then I think I would have won the game.” 

“It is good for the Dutch crowd that Dan could win. He has been trying to beat me for ages so it’s good for him to finally get one," Smith said. "But I’m not too worried. As we had the team event yesterday all my energy was focused on the team so it was a bit weird to then go back to the individual (competition)."

Dutch sensation

In the same venue, van Engelen defeated Portugal’s Ana Catarina Correia 8-1 in the women’s BC2 final to capture her first European Championship title. Van Engelen, who is 23 years old, has been playing boccia since 2014 after she was introduced to the sport through her sports teacher at school.

Claire Taggart of Great Britain took the bronze medal.

“This medal is very special and important to me. It was my very first European Championships so this is just fantastic,” van Engelen said. “I’m very happy, it was very special to compete outdoors. It was my first time to do so.”

“It was different compared to playing indoors because it gives a bit more air. It can feel very stuffy when we play indoors.”

Unstoppable duo

In the quad wheelchair tennis doubles, Schroder and Vink dominated their final against Turkish pair Ugur Altinel and Ahmet Kaplan. 

“It’s fantastic to take the European title in our own country and I think we’ve now won everything we could possibly win, so that’s amazing,” Schroder said after the 6-1, 6-1 victory.

“To stage the event for the first time and to be in the Netherlands is amazing, especially if you are able to win together in front of all the Dutch people watching you.

Schroder and Vink have won the Australian Open and the Wimbledon quad wheelchair tennis titles this year. Vink also said that it is special to win a title together at the inaugural European Para Championships.

“It’s very special because it’s the European championships, it’s the first one and it’s in our country,” Vink said.

Vink and Schroder will face each other in the quad wheelchair tennis finals on 13 August. Dutch stars Diede de Groot and Aniek van Koot will face off in the women’s wheelchair tennis singles, while Spain’s Martin De La Puente and Ruben Spaagaren will meet in the men’s singles final.

 Visit the European Para Championships website for full results and to watch live coverage.