Bumper medal haul in Lahti

Great Britain’s boccia squad return home with a bumper medal haul from the Lahti Challenger in Finland, winning five golds and two bronze medals.

For Louis Saunders, Kayleigh Haggo and Reshad Saraj, it was their first-ever international gold medal:

“I’m over the moon winning the gold medal,” said Saraj, who is part of Boccia UK’s Talent Transition Squad. “I feel my hard work is starting to pay off and I am still learning all the time. I feel I have more to give but I feel this is the starting point to what’s to come. I’m just excited to continue working and improving and be on this journey to develop further,” the BC2 player added.

Meanwhile, Saunders is hoping the win augurs well for the Sao Paulo World Cup in a couple of weeks:

“I’m delighted I’ve reached this level of performance so soon after a disappointing Montreal World Cup. I’m looking forward to building on this success in Sao Paulo in just a few weeks’ time. It would have been good to have seen more BC4s in this competition and I hope more players come to Finland next time. It was a great place to play with amazing views and brilliant accessibility.”

Haggo returns home with two gold medals. After winning the BC2 women’s event, she went on to secure top spot in the BC1/2 Team with David Smith OBE and Claire Taggart.

Patrick Wilson also added to the bumper gold medal haul, triumphing in the men’s BC3 category.

Talent Transition Squad athletes Matt Berry and Tyler McLelland also had reason to celebrate. They both won bronze and, for McLelland, it was his first individual medal at this level:

“It felt good to be at another international event and getting my first individual medal at this level. It was quite an experience and I really enjoyed the competition.”