The Hong Kong World Boccia Open is currently ongoing and three Scots are representing Boccia UK at the event, which is an important milestone in their preparation for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
The three Scots in action are: Jamie McCowan (BC3), Patrick Wilson (BC3) and Stephen McGuire (BC4), whilst we are also fortunate to have Claire Morrison form part of the coaching team.
The individual competitions were concluded today, which saw resounding success for Great Britain, and it was the Scottish athletes that provided the goods, as all three were involved in medal matches.
Stephen McGuire rose from the ashes to scrape through his group on points but manged to battle his way to the final, where he met Yuk Wing Leung (HKG) who had the home advantage. However, the Hamilton man showed his class and experience by winning 4-1 and claiming the Gold medal.
Patrick Wilson managed the competition well and took some major scalps before reaching his first World level final. Most notably, he defeated World number one and current World Champion, Grigorios Polychronidis, in the Quarter Final. In the final itself, he faced World number 3, Daniel Michel (AUS), who has emerged as a real talent as this level. The match was a close affair, but it ended in defeat for the Peebles man as he lost out 2-4. Nonetheless, this can be seen as a huge step forward.
Jamie McCowan won all his matches until the semi-final, where he was defeated by the eventual winner, Daniel Michel (AUS). He therefore had to settle for a bronze medal match against home player Yuen Kei Ho (HKG), where he eventually lost out 1-3.
The team and pairs get underway tomorrow and all the action (and live streams) can be followed via
http://www.bisfed.com/bisfed-2019-hong-kong-boccia-world-open/