Steph soars to world's top five
/Hamiltion’s Stephen McGuire has rocketed into the top five of the World Boccia rankings after securing silver at the Montreal World Cup.
It marked a comeback for the BC4 player who last year suffered a devastating injury, forcing him off the court and into physiotherapy and rehabilitation. And he is now hoping that the result puts him in contention for a bipartite spot at this summer’s Paralympic Games:
STEPH WINS SILVER IN MONTREAL
“My last World Cup final was back in 2019, just before Covid. In fact, I played the same player back then too, Yuk Wing Leung from Hong Kong. We are great friends and have battled for 20 years together on court.
“It's been an incredible start to my individual competition season,” he added. “To reach my first World Cup final since my injury gives me confidence that I'm getting back to the standards that are capable of winning world level events. This silver medal will move me into the world's top five, the highest I have been post-injury.”
Earlier in the year, McGuire’s hopes of selection for Paralympics were dashed when he didn’t qualify through the rankings. With tougher selection standards than ever before, the Hamilton boccia star is now hoping that he might be able to secure travel to Paris through a bipartite place:
“It's basically an application process for athletes who have not qualified, but have demonstrated why they should be at the Games,” explained McGuire. “A World Boccia selection panel take a holistic view, looking at rankings, results and circumstances such as injury or illness. There are only a couple of bipartite slots per classification and it’s up to the panel as to who gets the slot.”
Meanwhile, Will Arnott and ramp assistant Connor Wellfare secured bronze in the BC3 men’s individual, overcoming Greg Polychronidis of Greece. The success follows on from victory in the Pairs event with Sally Kidson at the Paralympic qualifiers in March.
Next up for Boccia UK is the Lahti Challenger in Finland. Competition starts on Saturday and Britain is fielding a squad a eight.
David Smith, Claire Taggart and Kayleigh Haggo will all compete in the Team event. Haggo will also compete in the individuals along with Patrick Wilson, Louis Saunders, Matt Berry, Reshad Saraj and Tyler McLelland.
Performance Director Greg Baker says Finland offers a great opportunity for Britain’s up and coming players:
“We’ve never competed in Finland before – this event is brand new to the Challenger circuit so we’re really looking forward to it. It’s also a good chance for our established players to keep themselves match sharp. We’re really pleased to be taking our Talent Transition Squad out to Lahti too. We set up this squad last year to help bridge the gap between domestic players and those on the World Class Programme.
“Being able to give more players these kind of international opportunities will really strengthen our boccia pathway and we thank our home nation partners for all their support.”
