David only wants gold in Seoul
/Britain's best ever boccia player David Smith OBE says anything less than gold at the World Championships will be a “huge disappointment”. It takes place in Seoul from 26th-31st August.
With five medals from four Paralympic Games, he is undisputedly one of Great Britain’s greats. But at the Paris Paralympic Games in 2024, he finished fourth. And at the World Championships in 2022, he had to settle for silver.
david smith in paris
Not that Smith is ever happy to settle:
“I hate losing. I’m going to Seoul to win it and I don’t mind being brash about it. In fact, my aim is to win back the triple crown.”
This year hasn’t been without disappointments either. Last month, he was knocked out in the quarter final of the Povoa World Cup by Greece’s Panagiotis Soulanis, leaving Smith saying:
“Spent a bit more time watching Boccia than I would have liked this week. Individually, I'm very annoyed at myself for not maintaining my standards.”
His campaign at the Astana World Cup also came to an abrupt halt at the quarter final stages – but this time he was defeated by world number one John Loung which he took as a small positive.
But he also admits that the performances are possibly to be expected given he’s made big changes to his playing style and to his equipment including his boccia chair.
“I have made some changes and we’re still making tweaks. When I’m playing well, I’m flying. I hit 95% accuracy in my first pool game in Povoa.
“But sometimes it does feel like two steps forward, one step back. I just need to stick to the process and sometimes, be pragmatic and just get the job done – even if it’s not pretty!”
“Standards across the world have also undoubtedly improved. There are more players now from more nations who are playing at the very top level. If you look at the top six in the BC1 category, there really aren’t many points between us,” said Smith, who is currently ranked fourth. “That’s great for the game. It wasn’t easy before of course, but I think people tended to take it for granted that I’d always win. That’s changed with the likes of Indonesia’s Muhamed Syafa coming through who is incredibly strong.”
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