Stephen McGuire, Jamie McCowan and Patrick Wilson all qualified for the last 16 stage of their respective events after day two of the World Boccia Championships at Liverpool’s Exhibition Centre.
BC4 player Stephen McGuire made it safely through to the knockout stages of the competition after some comprehensive victories during the group stages of the competition including a 12 v 1 win against American Kevin Stokes and a 12 v 0 triumph against Spaniard Vasile Agache.
It was equally as impressive for BC3 player Jamie McCowan who secured 3 wins over the first two days of individual action. The West of Scotland player and current world number 2 recoded victories over Maria Bjurstrom (Sweden) (7-3), Pieter Cilissen (Belgium) (4-3) and Eric Bussiere (Canada) (4-3) to secure his passage into the last 16 on day 3.
Edinburgh based player Patrick Wilson found things slightly trickier in Pool G, scraping through to the last 16 stage on points difference. Wilson recorded one victory (5 – 1 v Ling Yan Tsang) and lost 2 group matches, including one against current Paralympic BC3 Champion Howon Jeong (7 – 3) with Wilson claiming the last end by 3 shots to take some confidence into day 3 of the competition. However, this was to prove the end of the road for the Borders born BC3 player as he was defeated 7-1 by Russian player Aleksander Legostaev at the last 16 stage, meaning an exit from the individual competition.
BC4 World number 1, Stephen McGuire was up against German athlete Boris Nicolai and struggled for momentum after losing the first end by 3. McGuire managed to win the next two ends, leaving the score 3-2 to Nicolai moving into the final end. The German managed to defend the lead and eventually claimed the match, 4-2 and knocking the Scot out.
Jamie McCowan continued his impressive form the first two days, as he came up against Hong Kong’s Wing Tung Liu at the last 16 stage. McCowan raced into an early lead and his opponent from Hong Kong found it difficult to get back into the match despite winning the 3rd end by 1 shot – McCowan eventually claiming the victory 3-1.
Great Britain’s David Smith also moved into the Quarter Final stage with a 9-o victory against Spain’s Ferran Ribas.