Silver in Team makes it six in Zagreb

Will hipwell and claire taggart celebrate

Great Britain boccia stars added another silver medal to add to their impressive tally at the World Boccia Zagreb Challenger. Winning three golds, two silvers and a bronze, the Boccia UK squad finished at the top of the medals table.

Winning more medals and more golds than any other nation, Performance Director Greg Baker says they are feeling confident for the rest of the season:

“It’s been a brilliant tournament and gives us a boost before the first World Cup of 2023 which is in Montreal at the end of the month. To win six medals here against nations like Portugal and Brazil means that everything’s moving in the right direction.”

The squad celebrated a five-strong medal haul from the individual stages in Croatia before adding a silver medal from the BC1/2 Team event. David Smith OBE, Claire Taggart and Will Hipwell now return home with two medals, after they each secured medals as individuals.

Northern Ireland’s Taggart – who became BC2 World Champion in December – and Smith, Britain’s best boccia player of all time, both cemented their spots at the top of the rankings with gold medals as qualification opened for Paris Paralympic Games 2024.

Meanwhile, the tournament will live long in the memory of Paralympian Will Hipwell, who won his first individual medal at an international event.

Sarah Payne, who coaches the Team event, said:

“After winning silver in the Team event at the Worlds in December, we wanted to maintain our momentum in Croatia of all the hard work that was put in last season, We had a rocky start against Azerbaijan with three athletes who were all tired from playing individual finals the previous day.

“But they used all that they had learnt last year to dig deep and produce the results to finish top of their pool. A good semi-final saw us through to the final against Portugal. They played brilliantly and we’re looking to take that momentum into the rest of the year.”

BC3 player Will Arnott, from Reading, secured his first ever gold medal at an international event while Stephen McGuire won bronze in the BC4 category which was welcomed after months of rehabilitation following a serious injury at the beginning of last year.

Other highlights included Fiona Muirhead and Sally Kidson, achieving fourth place. Salisbury’s Kidson – who has just turned 18 - described feeling “absolutely over the moon” after beating World Champion Ana Costa in the group stages. She went on to narrowly lose 3-2 in her bronze medal match to one of the world’s best players from Brazil. In the Pairs matches, she teamed up with Edinburgh’s Patrick Wilson and again finished fourth.