A READING athlete has returned home from the Veldhoven 2022 World Boccia Challenger with two silver medals on Wednesday, August 10.
Will Arnott, 23, secured a silver medal in the international competition’s individual heats, and a further silver medal in the pairs heats with Robyn McBride, of Northern Ireland.
Mr Arnott said: “Overall, it was a very successful tournament for us as a squad and for me individually.
“This was the first time I’ve played Pairs internationally so to win a medal was definitely a highlight, and we all learnt a lot to take into the next tournament too.”
The pair were unbeaten during pool matches, beating Ireland, Germany, and Italy, and winning out against Sweden in the semi-final.
They were pipped for the gold by Italy with a 2-8 defeat.
Boccia is a precision ball sport, where players throw leather balls as close to a jack as possible.
The sport was originally designed to be accessible to people with cerebral palsy, but is now played by athletes with affected motor skills and features four classes broken down by functional ability.
It is one of only two Paralympic sports which has no Olympic counterpart sport.
Greg Baker, recently appointed Boccia UK performance director, said: “It’s been fantastic to see our up-and-coming players excel in Veldhoven.
“Robyn has only been to a couple of international tournaments to date so this experience at World Boccia Challenger events is vitally important.
“It was also a good opportunity for more established players to experience the knockout rounds and secure a medal and I’m sure it’s something that they will draw on in future events.
He said also that he hoped the Challenger events “can also offer opportunities for more talented pathway athletes” in the future.
Boccia UK teams are set to compete in further Challenger events in Poland later in August, and in Italy in September.
