Scott just misses out on bronze

British boccia player Scott McCowan just missed out on bronze today at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

He was defeated 1-6 by Australia’s Dan Michel after what has been a terrific run by the man from Dundonald in Scotland:

“I’m devastated at the moment. But I’ve got to give credit to Dan; he played a great game. He got off to a great start and had the bravery to play the long game, which not a lot of people are prepared to do. It paid off for him today. I didn’t do a good enough job of getting the balls close enough in that first end. But tomorrow I’ll bounce back and start again in the Pairs. We’ve got a really good chance in that for a medal.”

Scott misses out on bronze.

Thursday sees the start of the boccia team events. McCowan joins younger brother Jamie and York’s Beth Moulam in a bid for the podium:

“I think we’re definitely one of the favourites to go all the way here. So I think we need to try and keep the performances going.”

And he believes that the sibling players are an advantage:

“It’s great because we have that relationship where a lot of the time we don’t even have to say anything. We know what each other is thinking. We’ve got similar mindsets and personalities. So there’s not a lot that goes on in terms of communication. A lot of the time we just know what we’ve got to do and just get on with it. It’s a good time to have that family relationship and hopefully we can keep that going for tomorrow.”

With boccia given airtime on Channel 4, McCowan is pleased that the sport will grow in profile: 

“One of the wonderful things about Boccia is that there’s a great camaraderie between the players. There aren’t really any egos. Everybody puts in a lot of hard work in their own countries and they come here for the sport. I think you see that today on finals day. Everybody gets a lot of congratulations and good luck messages from other players. There’s not really a nasty side to boccia. It’s just pure sport in its finest and hopefully more people will get to experience that.”

Boccia UK Performance Director Helen Nicholls said:

"Scott is such a credit to our team and to Boccia UK. He has played incredibly here in Tokyo and we are so proud. He was unlucky to miss out on bronze today but this game is won and lost literally by millimetres. We look forward to seeing him back in action in the Pairs."