Great Britain, Slovakia trade golds at Boccia Euros

Great Britain, Slovakia and Belgium each came away with the top prizes as the 2015 Boccia European Team and Pairs Championships wrapped up on Monday (27 July) in Guildford, Great Britain.

Great Britain and Slovakia traded places in the BC1/BC2 team and BC4 pair events, as the British squad took a narrow 5-4 victory against Slovakia for the BC1/BC2 crown. Portugal defeated Spain 10-3 for the bronze.

The host nation could not replicate that performance in the BC4 pair. The British cruised past Russia in the semifinals, but Slovakia found revenge with a narrow 4-3 victory of their own in the finals. Hungary took home the bronze.

The BC3 pair event was perhaps the most open event. World No. 1 Great Britain were eliminated during the group stages after defeats to both France and Belgium. World No. 2 Portugal followed the same fate after finishing third behind Greece and Spain. Narrow victories for Spain (4-3) and Belgium (3-2) set up an interesting final, and left France and Greece battling for the bronze. It was Greece who held their nerve to ensure they were part of the medal ceremony after beating the French side 4-2.

In the finals, the Belgian pair proved too strong for Spain, taking a 7-1 victory to claim gold.

The Championships pitted the top-eight ranked European nations in the BC1/BC2 team, BC3 pair and BC4 pair, with the winners of each event receiving direct qualification slots for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

Results

BC1/BC2 Team – Great Britain, Slovakia, Portugal

BC3 Pair – Belgium, Spain, Greece

BC4 Pair – Slovakia, Great Britain, Hungary