UK Championships - in review
/The best of British boccia battled it out this weekend at the UK Championships in Largs, Scotland with the tournament favourites making it onto the podium.
In the BC1 category, David Smith OBE, representing Wales, took his 20th consecutive win with England’s Richard Armstrong and Fay Hart seizing the silver and bronze respectively.
England’s Reshad Saraj was crowned the new BC2 champion after overcoming Kayleigh Brown of Scotland 4-2 in the final. James Clowes, representing Boccia England, finished with a well-earned bronze.
In the battle of BC3s, we saw three Paralympians on the podium, with Scotland’s Patrick Wilson delighting the host nation with a close 3-2 win over England’s Will Arnott in the final. Team-mate Sally Kidson, also of England, bagged the bronze, defeating Northern Ireland’s Robyn McBride.
The BC4 category was highly anticipated with Scotland’s Stephen McGuire in action for the first time since becoming Paralympic Champion in Paris. He claimed victory over England’s Sophie Newnham. Louis Saunders, also of England, took the bronze.
Boccia UK’s Performance Director Greg Baker said:
“The UK Championships are always a fantastic shop window of the talent that’s coming through. Competing for home nations builds up some friendly rivalry which makes for a really enjoyable event and, importantly, is a great opportunity for athletes in the pathway to compete against athletes in not only the World Class Programme but also our Talent Transition Squad.”
The event was this year hosted by Scottish Disability Sport and was supported by an army of volunteers and officials:
“Our home nation partners are absolutely vital to the growth of boccia and we look forward to working together in the coming year to further increase the profile of boccia to get more people playing.,” added Greg.
