Thailand sweep gold medals at 2nd Fazza International Boccia Competition

Thailand made a clean sweep of the gold medals at the 2nd Fazza International Boccia Competition at the Dubai Club for the Disabled in Al Qusais with a ‘world-class’ performance on the final day.

Their rivals Portugal and Malaysia had to be content with the spoils in the five-event competition as Thailand lived up to their billing as one of the best exponents of the sport of Boccia in the world.

Held under the patronage of Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Sports Council, it was organised and supervised by the Hamdan Bin Mohammed Heritage Center and Dubai Club for the Disabled with the support of the General Authority of Youth and Sports Welfare, Dubai Sports Council and the UAE Paralympic Committee.

Boccia is a highly specialised competitive sport for people with cerebral palsy or related neurological conditions and is practiced in more than 50 countries.

A total number of 51 players from nine countries including hosts UAE with 14 players participated in the 2nd Fazza International Boccia Competition.

Iraq, Thailand, Malaysia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Tunisia, Portugal and newcomers Qatar completed the line-up in this year's Fazza International Boccia Competition.

This is the first sport of its kind for people with neurological disabilities in the Middle East.

Dominance

Such was Thailand’s dominance that they succeeded in producing a new champion in Dubai - Chao-Warit Sangchinda who won the BC3 gold medal match 11-0 against Portugal’s Roberto Ferreira.

“I’m very happy and was always confident of winning,” said the 25 year-old.

Thailand coach Sumrit Kotsila was supremely confident that his charges would deliver like they had in the inaugural Fazza International Boccia Competition when they won all four gold medals on offer.

Pattaya Tadtong (BC1), Watcharphon Vongsa (BC2) and Pornchok Larpyen (BC4) returned to successfully defend their titles.

Vongsa beat Portugal’s Abilio Valente 7-0 while Larpyen defeated Fernando Pereira 10-2 in the finals.

This year they had the added bonus of winning the BC4 Pairs title as well with Larpyen partnering newcomer Nuanchan Phonsila defeating Portugal 5-3 in a key match.

World number four Tadtong was by far their most impressive performer winning his gold medal match against Malaysia’s Lean Chin Kit 15-0.

“I feel like I’m the world champion,” said Tadtong who is determined to maintain his form and qualify for the Rio Paralympic Games next year.

Thailand considers the 2nd Fazza International Boccia Competition as preparation for tournaments in Hong Kong and South Korea later this year.

Second-best

Portugal had to be content with being second-best bagging four silver medals through Abilio Valente (BC2), Roberto Ferreira (BC3) and Fernando Pereira (BC4) who paired with Pedro da Clara in the BC4 Pairs.

Pedro da Clara had the satisfaction of also winning a bronze medal when he beat Thailand’s Phonsila 8-0.

Malaysia was overjoyed after claiming one silver and two bronze medals.

“We did not come with any expectations but the medals are a bonus for us,” said Malaysia’s coach K.T. Low.

Lee Chee Hoong who dashed Tunisia’s hopes of winning a medal when he won the BC2 bronze medal match against Achref Tayahi 9-1 was elated.

“If I win any medal I was told I could qualify for the World Open in Korea,” said the 42 year-old.

Sivakangai Sivapragasam celebrated her hard-fought 4-2 win over Kuwait’s Athari Almuhairi in the BC3 bronze medal match with her elder sister Shobana who travels as her aide.

“She has not played for a long time. It is a great win,” said Shobana. “All the Malaysian players owe a debt of gratitude to Jaya Rajaratnam, a school principal and now a Boccia referee, for introducing the players to the sport,” she added.

Lean Chin Kit, 31, aims to go back to the drawing board after being outclassed by Tadtong.

“Thailand is indeed world class. It’s quite difficult to win against them. Hopefully with more practice, I can improve,” said Lean.

GCC

Iraq scored one for the GCC after Mohamed Fadhel Jiad won the BC1 bronze medal match against Portugal’s Bernardo Lopes 6-2 and also claimed the bronze medal in the BC4 Pairs.

“It was a tough competition with many professional players competing which provided our players good international exposure,” said Iraq’s coach Muhannad Abd Alamir who also expressed his gratitude to the Dubai Club for the Disabled and the Hamdan Bin Mohammed Heritage Center for granting them this opportunity of competing with the best.

UAE miss out

UAE missed out on a podium place when their trio of Raessa Alfalassi, Ayesha Essa Almehairi and Ahmed Essa Aljazeeri were edged out by Iraq 2-3 in the BC4 Pairs match.

However, UAE Boccia National Coach Fawaz al Hashemi felt the players had closed the gap against top internationals.

UAE captain Raessa was not disheartened by their failures but looks at the positives from their experience.

“I’m satisfied even though I could not win a medal. I feel my skills have improved. Our ultimate goal is to qualify for the Rio Paralympics. If we work hard we can achieve our goals. For this, we need to practice more and get more international exposure,” said Raessa.

Rising star

One of the positives for UAE was the emergence of a late bloomer and rising star Ayesha Essa Almehairi who was thrust into the international arena after just three days of training.

“It was a great challenge and motivation to be competing against top class players. It was a good learning experience. Patience, focus and taking your time to think clearly were some of the things I learnt,” said Ayesha who lost narrowly to Iraq’s Asil Abbas Saghir after being routed by Portugal’s Pedro da Clara in her opening BC4 pool match.

“I was never nervous. I maintained my calm and was confident of doing well. It’s an honour to be competing against the best. My aim is to train harder and improve my skills. My dream is to become a world champion,” said Ayesha.

Souad Darwish, Director of Championships at Hamdan Bin Mohammed Heritage Center, thanked all the delegates from the participating countries, the Competition’s organising committee and Dubai Club for the Disabled.

She said: “We are proud to have hosted the second edition of the Fazza International Boccia Competition which attracted some of the world's best players. It also served as a great opportunity for the UAE’s embryonic team to have played against these professional players. This Championship comes within the vision of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, to create diversity in sports for the disabled. And we hope that the Boccia Competition grows like the rest of the Fazza Championships that are niche and unique."

Fazza Championships

This is the fifth championship under the umbrella of the Fazza Championships for People with Disability to be held this season - the Fazza National Championships for People with Disability, Fazza International Para-Archery Competition, Fazza International Athletics IPC Grand Prix Dubai 2015, which witnessed the participation of nearly 500 athletes, and the 6th Fazza IPC Powerlifting World Cup Dubai 2015 which attracted 133 athletes from 25 countries.
The Fazza International Wheelchair Basketball Championships is scheduled to be held in May.

Boccia categories

BC1 - Players with Cerebral Palsy who are able to use their hands or feet to consistently propel a ball into play. BC1 athletes may have an aide outside the competition court to pass them their ball upon request or to amend the wheelchair and ensure its firmness.

BC2 - Players with Cerebral Palsy who are able to use their hands to consistently propel a ball into play and have greater functional ability than a BC1 athlete and are not allowed to have any aide.

BC3 - Players with Cerebral Palsy or other disability with locomotor dysfunction in all four limbs who are unable to throw or kick a ball into play and as such are permitted to use an assistive device such as a ramp to propel the ball into play and are supported by an assistant. The assistant has to look away with their backs to the court.

BC4 - Players who do not have Cerebral Palsy but have another disability with locomotor dysfunction in all four limbs and have similar functional ability to BC2 athletes. Disabilities such as Muscular Dystrophy and Tetraplegia will fall under this classification as long as they prove able to throw the ball efficiently and are not allowed to have any aide or assistance.

 

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