Smith and McCowan into quarter finals

World number one David Smith charged into the quarter finals of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games after today eliminating Japan’s Takumi Nakamura with an 11-1 victory.

After losing yesterday’s match, it was a crucial game for Smith for who needed to top Pool A to qualify for the knockout stages:

“It was an important match. If I won, I was through. If I lost, I’d be out. I played it a bit safe probably but I did the job and I’m through to the next round.

David Smith on day 3 of the boccia tournament.

“Thanks to everybody back home. I know they were watching this morning. I hope I’ve been entertaining enough for them. And thanks to the National Lottery for supporting all the players.”

He is back on court tomorrow to face Thailand’s Witsanu Huadpradit who won gold at the World Championships in 2018 in the Team event.

Paralympic GB’s Scott McCowan will join Smith in tomorrow’s quarter-finals after beating Australia’s Spencer Cotie 4-3:

“Thankfully, I got the three points in the first end so I got off to a strong start but I really had to dig in on that last end,” said McCowan. “Fortunately, I stopped him taking that last point and I’m delighted. I feel really comfortable and am in the form of my life.”

Tomorrow, the BC3 player will be up against Evelyn de Oliveira. She claimed gold in the BC3 Pairs at Rio 2016.

Meanwhile, younger brother Jamie McCowan is out of the individual competition after losing to Stefania Ferrando of Argentina on tiebreak. But he will be back in action on Thursday in the Pairs event with Scott and Beth Moulam of York who is making her Paralympic debut in Tokyo.

In the BC4 category, Stephen McGuire and Louis Saunders’ efforts to qualify for the quarter finals of the boccia at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games were thwarted. They now turn their attention to Thursday and the start of the Pairs matches:

“We’ve got a great chance in the Pairs,” said McGuire who is captaining the Pairs. “We’ve got Louis and it’s his first Paralympics but he is a great athlete and we’ve got Evie who was in Rio so she’s quite experienced at this level so fingers crossed we can do a bit better in the Pairs.”

In the BC2 category, Will Hipwell and Claire Taggart bowed out of the individuals today. They will now be focussing on joining with David Smith in the BC1/2 Team event.

“The team has been working really hard over the lockdown period. I’m really looking forward to teaming up with Claire and David and seeing how far we can go,” said Hipwell.

Boccia UK Performance Director Helen Nicholls said, “It’s fantastic to be back on court after 20 months and we’re so proud of how the athletes have responded. We have players here – like 19-year-old Louis Saunders – who are making their Paralympic debut in Tokyo. They’re learning and gathering experience that will pay dividends in the future.”