Brits return from Povoa with three medals

Paralympic Champion and world number one Stephen McGuire MBE says his focus is now on the World Championships podium, after winning gold and silver at the Povoa World Cup.

The Scot stormed to gold in the individuals – yet another triumph in a superb run since victory in Paris – beating Brazil’s Eliseu Dos Santos 5-1 in the final.

And it wasn’t the only medal returning home to Lanarkshire. Teaming up with Sophie Newnham in the BC4 Pair, they took silver, outwitted by hosts Portugal 4-1 in the final.

McGuire said:

“I’m incredibly proud to come away from Povoa with an individual gold medal and a silver in the Pairs alongside Sophie. Every competition presents new challenges, and to perform consistently at this level is something I'm really pleased with. It's a reflection of the hard work that goes on behind the scenes with my support team and teammates. We'll enjoy this success, but our focus now turns to building on this performance as we continue our journey towards the World Championships in Seoul next month.”

There was also success for the BC3 Pair. Sally Kidson and Patrick Wilson will take confidence after winning bronze. Having just played together for three World Cups, this is their second medal and a timely boost ahead of the Worlds in Seoul later this year.

medals for Britain in the BC3 Pair and BC4 Pair

“We had a pretty turbulent start to the tournament and to be able to convert that was something we’ve not been able to do before,” said Kidson. “It comes at a particularly good time, obviously with the World Championships ahead of us but it also gives us some upward momentum after not making it out of the group in Astana. Individually, my learnings from this tournament give me some good things to work on ahead of the World Championships and I’m looking forward to being able to put some of them in to practice.”

Outside of the medals, there were other strong performances. For the first time, Kayleigh Brown reached the medal matches at a World Cup.

In the individuals, Sophie Newnham was denied a place in the semi-final by Ukraine’s Nataliia Konenko.

David Smith OBE fell in the quarter finals. Greece’s Panagiotis Soulanis took the victory 4-2, with 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 at the start of the QF.”

smith in action

Sally Kidson suffered the same quarter final fate, also defeated by a Greek player. Louis Saunders – who found himself in an incredibly tough group which featured two of the eventual medallists – and Reshad Saraj didn’t escape the pool.

Saraj later joined Kayleigh Brown and David Smith in the Team event. They were beaten by Portugal and Brazil in the group matches but ended on a high, beating France 10-2:

“In the Team, we had a pool of death, medical challenges and inexperience so we probably did about as well as could be expected. The standard of play from Brazil, Portugal and Indonesia was undeniably high and we aren't there yet,” said Smith.

The squad’s next tournament is the World Championships in Seoul.