Boccia: British quartet battle to bronze

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Britain’s Boccia team bounced back from a crushing semi-final defeat to secure the bronze medal against Portugal.After coming into the games as defending champions hopes were high for the British Boccia quartet of Nigel Murray, Dan Bentley, David Smith and Zoe Robinson in the BC1-2 event. After suffering a mauling at the hands of Thailand in the semi-finals, going down 18-1 ,the team responded in the best possible style bouncing back to defeat Portugal 7-5 and win the bronze medal.

Team member David Smith said: “It was great to bounce back from a heavy defeat. The Thailand guys took us apart in the semis and even if we were at our best, they would have probably still beaten us.”

Britain started strongly, they took two points in the second end after two balls were judged to be marginally closer to the jack and built a 5-1 by the half-way mark in similar fashion. However, the Portuguese fought back to take the penultimate end 4-0 and level the scores at 5-5.

Cheered on by a packed crowd at the ExCel arena, the British players held their nerve in the final end and hung on for a 7-5 victory.

Captain Nigel Murray is retiring after the games and team-mate Robinson said: “He has gone out on a high. I wanted a medal for myself but partly to send him off on a high note.”

There was disappointment however for Britian’s two other players; Scotland’s McGuire brothers, Peter and Stephen who missed out on a podium place in the BC4 Pairs after their second loss of the tournament to Canada, this time 8-2.

The tournament is not yet over, as all six of the GB players who played in bronze-medal matches return to action on Wednesday when the Individual tournaments get underway.

Beth Shine, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine

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