Scottish Boccia had three representatives competing for Great Britain at the BISFed World Open in Kansas. Stephen McGuire (BC4), Jamie McCowan (BC3) and Patrick Wilson (BC3)
Current World Champion, McGuire won individual Gold, whilst Jamie McCowan clinched individual Silver.
The UK Boccia team finished with three medals at the event, with David Smith MBE also adding Gold to the Paralympic Gold he won in Rio last year.
McGuire who cruised through his pool with three wins from three matches before dispatching Colombia’s Duban Cely in the quarter final and Canada’s Alison Levine in the semi-final. Colombia’s Euclides Grisales was waiting in the final but McGuire started strongly and was 3-0 up after two ends. A tied third end took the score to 4-1 and McGuire eventually sealed the victory 4-2.
McCowan was also in sensational form during the pool stages and racked up three wins before seeing off Canada’s Eric Bussiere 6-1 and Greece’s Grigoris Polychronidis in the semi. Unfortunately he was unable to win the final as he was overturned by Australia’s Daniel Michel. Nevertheless, an impressive performance by the man from Ayrshire!
Patrick Wilson went through second in his pool after edging out Jesus Romero in a tie-break. He then came up against Polychronidis in the quarter final but this time lost out in a tie break.
Earlier in the week BC3 pair Wilson and McCowan suffered a semi-final defeat against Canada before missing out on third place to Japan. In the BC4 section, McGuire was paired with England’s Louis Saunders (who was making his first UK Boccia appearance) failed to make it out of the pool after narrow 3-2 losses to Canada and Colombia.
The next competition for the players is the Scottish Boccia International being held from the 13 – 15 October at the Inverclyde Sports Centre in Largs.
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