Paralympics 2024: A guide to boccia at the Paris Games
Greece will be aiming to be one of the countries challenging for medals
- Published
Key information
Dates: 29 August-4 September
Venue: South Paris Arena I
Gold medals on offer: 11
How does boccia work?
Boccia is one of three Paralympic-specific sports which has no Olympic counterpart and is for athletes with conditions such as severe cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy that affects all four limbs.
The sport is played indoors on a court similar in size to badminton with players positioned at one end.
Both sides have six balls - one side has red balls, the other blue balls and the aim of the game is to get your balls closer to the white target ball, the jack, than your opponent.
The balls are made of leather and are filled with plastic granules so they do not bounce and are easy to grip.
Individual and pairs matches consist of four ends while team matches have six ends. Once all ends have been played, the side with the highest score is the winner.
To start an end, one side will throw the jack. They will then throw their first ball trying to get it as close as possible. The other side then attempts to throw their ball closer. After that, the side whose ball is not closest to the jack throws the next ball. Once all balls have been played, points are awarded. The side that is closest to the jack receives a point for every ball they have nearer than their opponent's closest ball.
There are four classifications. Up to now at Paralympics, individual events were mixed but for Paris 2024, there are separate male and female individual events, although pairs and team events remain mixed.
BC1 players have cerebral palsy and are allowed to use their hands or feet to play the ball. They are permitted to have an assistant on court to pass them the ball before they throw.
BC2 players have cerebral palsy and are more able to grip and release the ball. They do not have an assistant on court and have to throw the ball on to the court.
BC3 players have cerebral palsy or other conditions and have the highest level of impairment. They are unable to throw or kick the ball and play using a ramp which is positioned by an assistant who faces away from play and is not allowed to turn around for the duration of the end. The assistant also places the ball on the ramp for the player to release.
BC4 players do not have cerebral palsy and are able to throw the ball into play.
Who is competing for GB?
Three-time Paralympic champion David Smith and reigning world champion Claire Taggart will lead the GB challenge in Paris.
Smith is Britain's most decorated boccia player after defending his BC1 title in Paris and he will aim to add to his five medals from four Games.
Taggart, from Northern Ireland, who is competing at her third Games, is number one in the BC2 women's class and won her first global title in 2022.
They will combine with Kayleigh Haggo in the BC1/2 team event
Will Arnott and 19-year-old Sally Kidson will compete in the BC3 Paris event after claiming silver at the 2023 Europeans while Stephen McGuire (BC4) and Patrick Wilson (BC3) earned late call-ups.
Who are the other challengers?
A total of 15 nations won medals at the last World Championships in 2022 with Australia the only one to win more than one gold.
Their charge is led by Daniel Michel in the BC3 event who won bronze in Tokyo and as well as his individual hopes, he and pairs partner Jamieson Leeson will be aiming to win their nation's first Paralympic gold in the sport.
South Korea are the sport's most successful nation at the Paralympics with 10 golds while Thailand are strong, particularly in the men's events.
France could be celebrating too - Sonia Heckel is the European champion in women's BC3 and will be hoping to add the Paralympic title to her trophy cabinet.
Did you know?
Kayleigh Haggo has also had a successful career as a frame runner - a sport where athletes who have severe co-ordination impairments run with the support of a three-wheeled frame.
The Scot won gold for GB at the 2019 Para-athletics Worlds in Dubai and at the 2021 Europeans in Poland.
But with the event not part of of the Paris programme, she switched to boccia in early 2022 and made her international debut later that year and has gone from strength to strength.
It is a busy summer for Haggo who will marry her fiance Kevin Brown, who is also her competition assistant, after the Paris Games.
ParalympicsGB Tokyo 2020 medals
One gold (David Smith)