World Boccia: David Smith wins individual gold
- Published
Smith was Britain's youngest national champion at the age of 14
David Smith has won individual gold for Britain in the BC1 category at the 2014 Boccia World Championships in Beijing.
The 25-year-old from Hampshire won silver at London 2012 and is the reigning European champion in his class.
There was also bronze for Welsh teenager Jacob Thomas, 19, in the BC3 category.
It followed the silver in the BC3 pairs and bronze in the BC1/2 team event won by GB earlier in the week.
Smith edged past Daniel Perez of the Netherlands 4-2 in his semi-final before defeating Thailand's Witsanu Huadpradit 9-2 to land gold.
What is Boccia? |
|---|
The sport made its Paralympic debut in 1984 and is similar to boules |
Each side has six balls and the aim is to get your balls closer to the white target ball, the jack, than your opponent |
All athletes have an impairment that affects all four of their limbs |
Men and women compete alongside and against each other in the sport |
Thomas, who beat team-mate Scott McCowan 3-2 to reach the quarter-finals, was defeated narrowly 5-4 by Korea's Han Soo Kim in the semi-final.
But he recovered well to defeat Greece's Greg Polychronidis 4-1 and earn bronze.
It was a second medal for Thomas after he, McCowan and Patrick Wilson lost 6-1 to Korea in the BC3 pairs final to better the bronze GB won at last year's European Championships.
Smith was also part of the bronze-medal winning BC1/2 team alongside Nigel Murray, Joshua Rowe and Martin Davis. They beat Slovakia 6-2 after losing out to Brazil in their semi-final.
- Published28 August 2014
- Published23 June 2013
- Published5 September 2016
