British boccia duo, Stephen McGuire and Sophie Newnham, have opened their season in the BC4 Pairs with gold at the Astana World Cup.

The success puts them in a great position ahead of the World Championships in September.

The pair won every event they entered last season.

stephen mcguire and sophie newnham win world cup boccia gold in kazakhstan

In Kazakhstan, they beat the hosts before defeating the Ukraine, China and Canada in the pool matches. Tbis set up a semi-final clash with Germany which Great Britain won 6-3 before a China reunion in the final.

Newnham explained:

“China are an exceptional pair so beating them twice really demonstrated our hard work over the winter. It puts us in a great position going forward ahead of the World Championships.”

In the individuals, Britain’s campaign fell at the quarter final stages. Head Coach Rikki Bingham said:

“We battled in every end and every match but this has been the toughest competition since the Paris Paralympic Games. We chose this tournament because we knew it would be tough – it was stacked with top nations and opponents including Paralympic gold medallists and highly world ranked players. We wanted to see where we were ahead of the Worlds and we now go away to sharpen up and improve.”

For Newnham, the event was an “incredible experience”:

“It was amazing to face different opponents from the Americas and Asia. In the individuals, I faced Laissa from Brazil in the quarter final and lost narrowly but this was an incredible experience. I haven’t faced her since 2023.”

Britain’s best ever boccia player David Smith who is a three-time Paralympic Champion added:

“I’d have liked to have gone deeper into the tournament and showed something closer to my usual standard but to only lose 4-3 to the world number one, John Loung, is a small positive.”

The BC3 Pair, Sally Kidson and Patrick Wilson, didn’t escape the pool but they did end on a high, with victory over India.