Taggart and Haggo make history at the British

Claire Taggart and Kayleigh Haggo entered the history books this weekend as the pair starred in the first ever all-female final at the UK Boccia Championships.

The tournament, which took place in Swansea over the 15-16 October, also saw the highest female representation ever achieved in the medal matches.

Claire Taggart and Kayleigh Haggo make boccia history

Taggart from Northern Ireland stormed to the win with a 6-2 victory but it was also a brilliant performance from Haggo who has recently added boccia to her sporting cv alongside competing as a world record frame-runner.

“It’s been a fantastic weekend full of performance Boccia matches,” said Greg Baker, Boccia UK Performance Director. “From start to finish, there has been promising, new and upcoming talented athletes competing against current World Class Porgramme athletes which is exactly what the UK Champs aims to do.

“It has also been fantastic to see the number of female athletes at the Championships who have progressed to the medal matches, especially with those athletes competing at their first UK championships. This illustrates a positive future for the sport and we are already looking forward to next year’s competition where we hope to see even more athletes come through the pathway and compete.”

Earlier today, Taggart beat England’s Jason Rolph 8-1 in the semi-final while Haggo edged out London player Reshad Saraj 5-4. Saraj took the bronze with a 7-1 victory over Rolph.

It was a giant battle of the brothers in the BC3 with Scotland’s Scott McCowan facing younger brother Jamie.

And today, it was the turn of Jamie to triumph, winning 5-2 over Scott.

Jamie McCowan wins BC3 gold

Jamie had previously overcome fellow GB team-mate Will Arnott 3-2 while Scott triumphed over up and coming 17-year-old Sally Kidson 4-2. Will Arnott from Reading took the bronze. 

In the BC4s, Louis Saunders grabbed the gold with a 9-1 win over young Sophie Newnham, a student at Treloars, who has shown great promise as an upcoming player at this tournament.

Earlier, Saunders had beaten Penny Froude 6-1 while Newnham caused a surprise upset beating Stephen McGuire 3-2 on tiebreak.

Louis Saunders with Sophie Newnham

McGuire had to settle for bronze after a 5-0 win over Froude.

Meanwhile, David Smith claimed the gold in the BC1 category - run in a round robin format - and was followed in silver medal position by England's Richard Armstrong and Wales' Rob Morgan with the bronze.