All to play for in Povoa

 It’s the final tournament before the Paralympic Games and Great Britain’s boccia stars are still in the hunt for ranking points.

David Smith OBE, Claire Taggart and Kayleigh Haggo will all be back in action in the individuals and together as the BC1/2 Team.

Claire, david and kayleigh ready for povoa

It’s certainly a busy summer for Haggo who, after the Games, marries her fiancé Kevin Brown, who also happens to be her boccia assistant and will also travel to Paris.

Great Britain is currently ranked world no 3 in the BC1/2 Team which puts them in a great position for a good seeding, come Paris.

Sally Kidson, the youngest member of the squad competing at Paris Expo, and Will Arnott also feature in the GB line up for Povoa.

sally and wi ll also aim to be match fresh for paris

Arnott is fresh from winning gold in the individuals at the Poznan Challenger and both BC3s will be vying for the podium again in Portugal.

Completing the line up are two promising players from our Talent Transition Squad. Surbiton teenager Sophie Newnham, who has already made quite an impact on the international circuit, winning four medals – three golds and a silver - since her senior debut in Zagreb in April.

The 16-year-old said:

“It’s my second World Cup of the season and my final competition of the year so I’m really excited to get started. As always, it’s a good opportunity to put my hard work in training into a competitive environment, and this will help prepare me ahead of next season.

“As well as playing individuals, I’m teaming up with Tyler in the BC4 Pair. It’s really exciting to see Talent Transition Squad athletes being given the opportunity to perform at a World Cup.”

And 18 year old Tyler McLelland from Fife, who won his first international medal at the Lahti Challenger in May, will be ready to soak up all the valuable experience of his first-ever World Cup:

“I’m really looking forward to Povoa – it’s my first World Cup event so it’s my first real opportunity to play against literally the world’s best players and hopefully I can try and show what I’ve got against that level of players. Maybe even beat them!

“It’s really important that we get these sort of opportunities because we learn so much. There’s a brilliant player who has the same condition as me so it’ll be really good for me to see him play and hopefully compete against him too.”