Season to close in Coimbra

It’s the final World Cup of the boccia season. Great Britain heads to Portugal for the Coimbra World Cup, fielding a six-strong team.

Paralympic Champion Stephen McGuire leads the charge. As reigning world number one, he’ll be aiming for the podium top spot to finish the season on a high, ahead of next year’s World Championships.

Paralympic champion stephen mcguire to close 2025 boccia season in coimbra

“Individually, we travel to Portugal with two European Champions and a strong squad of six athletes. We’re going into Coimbra with positive momentum and hope to finish with strong performances before winter preparations begins for the World Championships next year.

He will also team up with teenage sensation Sophie Newnham in the BC4 Pairs. The Surbiton 17-year-old has rocketed up the rankings this year into the world number four spot. A good performance in Coimbra could see her launch herself into the top three.

McGuire adds, “Sophie and I have won every competition this season so we’re feeling really positive. It’s a real joy to play with Sophie – she is an extremely accurate and precise player. She has the ability to secure angles like no one else I’ve ever seen before in the British squad. She is a very intelligent player; tactically very astute. Her delivery is wonderful to watch and she’s still just 17 years old.”

teenage boccia star sophie newnham now ranked in world top four

It’s also worth keeping an eye on Louis Saunders. The Bognor Regis born athlete – who juggles full-time work – joins McGuire in the BC4 classification and currently ranks 14th in the world:

“It’s been a great challenge to manage work and boccia, training evenings and weekends, and I really appreciate all the efforts of my coach Lauren to come up and train with me. I’m also really lucky to have Sophie as a training partner. 

british boccia star louis saunders has had best season so far in 2025

“Hopefully, Coimbra will be the icing on the cake of what’s been my most successful season yet, after finishing in the top eight at the European Championships and winning a silver medal at the last World Cup in Curitiba. Lauren and I are looking to build on that to finish the season on a high.”

European Champion Sally Kidson – now world number eight – is set to face tough opposition from South Korea with Yejin Choi leading the field.

sally kidson, european champion, heads to coimbra

Patrick Wilson is also set to make a return while Reshad Saraj – just inside the world’s top 15 – will be aiming to finish the season with a flourish. But top talents from Indonesia, Slovakia and no doubt the home nation make this a tough classification.

patrick wilson back on the boccia court

reshad saraj aims to finish boccia season on a high

Performance Director Greg Baker says:

“It’s the final World Cup of the season in a year which has seen some outstanding results for our British athletes. At the Europeans earlier this year, we achieved a record-breaking medal haul with four gold medals, two bronze and we topped the medal table.

“We’re looking to build on those results, continuing the strong momentum into this season-closer before we head into winter training. We know what we’ve got to work on to come out even stronger next year as we build towards the World Championships.”