Sophie Newnham certainly knows how to make a debut. It was the Surbiton teenager’s first ever senior appearance at a World Boccia sanctioned event and she returns with two gold medals.

At the Zagreb Challenger, Great Britain’s boccia squad secured eight medals: four gold, one silver and three bronze.

sophie wins gold in the individuals and in the pairs

The sixteen-year-old topped her pool in the BC4 women’s event, booking her place in the semi-final against Ukraine’s Nataliia Konenko. Winning on tiebreak, Newnham went on to defeat Slovakia’s Kristina Vozarova to secure the gold.

Teaming up with Lanarkshire’s Stephen McGuire, the Treloars college student went on to win a second gold in the BC4 Pairs.

Following the win, she said:

“I’m over the moon with the win today. It was the first time playing with this bossman (Stephen McGuire) which was a privilege. And to win a gold in the individuals too and get the double gold was fantastic. So, I’m very happy with how the week’s gone.”

In fact, Great Britain completely dominated the BC4 classification in Zagreb with McGuire winning gold in the men’s individuals and teammate Louis Saunders from Bognor Regis taking the bronze.

Swansea’s David Smith OBE also started his season on a high, cementing his World number one spot with a 5-1 win over Daniel Perez from the Netherlands in the BC1 class.

Great Britain again featured heavily on the podium of the BC2 women’s category. World Champion Claire Taggart from Larne seized silver while Ayrshire’s Kayleigh Haggo took the bronze; her first ever individual medal at international level.

And finally, the BC1/2 Team featuring Smith, Taggart and Haggo further added to Great Britain’s medal celebrations winning bronze after a 15-0 defeat over Czech Republic.

Haggo explained:

“I’m really happy to be coming home with my first international medal and second international team medal. In the individuals, I was seeded ninth and finished third, winning four matches against higher ranked players.

“In the team competition, we didn’t quite reach our full potential, but that’s ok – we can and we will learn more from our losses than our wins.