Sophie secures stunning silver

Teenage boccia talent Sophie Newnham from Surbiton is set to continue her climb up the world rankings after winning silver at the 2025 Poznan Challenger at the weekend.

Currently sitting in number 11 spot of female BC4 players, her winning ways at the weekend certainly keep her on course for a place inside the top ten.

Sophie newnham wins silver in poznan

Newnham started strong with a 7-1 win over Foteini Bouiou of Greece, before a 2-4 defeat to USA’s Cassie Mitchell. But she bounced back brilliantly in the semi-final to claim a 5-3 victory over Greece’s Chrysi Morfi Metzou, who is ranked world number 10.

Into the final, she faced a tough match and was defeated 1-5 by Karla Manuel Enriquez who remained undefeated throughout the entire tournament.

Newnham said:

“This week was really tough but I really enjoyed playing against two new players from the Americas. I think it’s a great start for me in the LA Paralympic cycle and a good result ahead of the upcoming tournaments.”

sophie newnham with brother and coach, jamie

There were mixed results for Louis Saunders. Securing a first round triumph over Turkey’s Mahmut Unal, he suffered narrow, one point defeats to Jajub Wojcik of Poland and Blaz Adamlje of Slovenia. He was unable to make it into the knock out rounds but ended on a high, taking a tie-break win over Czech Republic’s Ondrej Kaas.

Penny Froude – who has just joined Boccia’s Talent Transition Squad – was all about gaining experience in Poznan. And she did just that, showing strong form in her BC4 clashes. Her first round resulted in a close defeat to eventual winner Karla Manuel Enriquez and she was also able to claim a couple of points off world top ten player Chrysi Morfi Metzou who beat Froude 5-2.