Scottish Disability Sport held a Scottish Invitational Individual Boccia Event at the Engage Centre in Sighthill, Edinburgh on Saturday October 6th. Players from Scotland, England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Ireland travelled to Edinburgh for an opportunity to test themselves against some of the leading players from these nations in the BC1 – 4 classifications. Experienced players were joined by a sprinkling of relatively novice players with the potential to advance in the sport and this event offered an outlet that ensures that there is a good range of competitive opportunities available in Scotland on an annual basis.
As the Scottish International Individuals, Teams & Pairs event – held for the first time last year at Inverclyde Centre – is scheduled to be a Biennial event SDS wanted to ensure players, assistants, coaches and our ever-growing band of officials are given the opportunity to test their mettle in a competitive environment. Thanks to all the nations for supporting this event and ensuring there was a diverse competition.
All sections headed into the last fixtures of the day still uncertain as to where the gold medal was heading as the round robin groups reached their conclusion. The BC1 section saw Scotland’s Reegan Stevenson and Jabe Peake contest for the gold medal. Despite Reegan winning the first and last end it proved not to be enough as Jabe won 3-2 to take the gold back to England. Northern Ireland’s William Graham completed the medallists.
In the BC2 section the leading contenders were Northern Ireland’s World No 31 Claire Taggart and England’s Reshad Saraj. Reshad saved his best for the final as he eased to victory over Claire. An honourable mention for Ireland’s Stuart Wiley who took Reshad to the wire in their group match and claimed the bronze medal in one of his first competitions.
The section with the most entrants was the ever-popular BC3 section which unfortunately lost the formidable McCowan brothers from Ayrshire at the 11th hour to illness. World No 2 Jamie and brother Scott were sure to have been in the mix for medals. This left World No 11 Patrick Wilson from the East of Scotland as the player to beat. He was severely tested in consecutive matches with England’s Lewis Fisher who pushed him all the way in the group stage and in their semi-final but Patrick ultimately fought his way to the final. There he faced Matt Berry from England who was in scintillating form in the group stages, losing only 2 points in his 3 group matches. After seeing off Ireland’s Connor Corroon – himself in excellent form – comfortably in the semi-final, Matt – ably assisted by his mum Sue – performed excellently in the middle ends of the final to hold on for the gold medal despite an almighty effort from Patrick in the final end who fell just one shot short of taking it to a tie-break. England’s Lewis Fisher defeated Connor for the bronze.
The final section of the day, the BC4 section, had a welcome return to competitive action for Scotland’s Kieran Steer after a hiatus from the sport. Kieran and his fellow countryman Ross Munro navigated their way through the group to play a winner takes all fixure against each other i the final match of the day. They won two ends each but ultimately Kieran had amassed a significant score after two ends that couldn’t be reeled in. Northern Ireland’s Jayne Milligan completed the podium place ahead of her compatriot Paul McLister.
Thanks to all players and team support along with the excellent officials marshalled superbly yet again by Darren Thomson. SDS look forward to the next competition on October 27th at the same venue for players outside the BISFed BC1-4 classifications.
Medals were presented by Stephen McGuire – who also officiated at the competition – and SDS Vice-Chair Claire Morrison.
Photo by Claire Morrison: All the medallists from the 2018 Scottish Boccia Invitational Individual Event