UAE's Saeed Al Mansoori and Hamda Beljafla shine at 2nd Fazza International Boccia Competition

Saeed Al Mansoori and Hamda Mohammed Beljafla provided the silver lining for the UAE on a day dominated by Thailand and Portugal players in the 2nd Fazza International Boccia Competition at the Dubai Club for the Disabled in Al Qusais on Saturday.

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 is organized 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 specialized competitive sport for people with cerebral palsy or related neurological conditions and is practiced in more than 50 countries today.

A total number of 51 players from nine countries including hosts UAE with 14 players are participating in the competition.

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

The 1st Fazza International Boccia Competition hosted 41 players from across eight countries in May last year – including the UAE, Iraq, Thailand, Malaysia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Tunisia and Portugal.

Qatar is the newest entry to this year's Fazza International Boccia Competition.

A total of 102 matches will be played during the four-day Fazza Boccia Competition with two sessions each day from 9am to 1pm and 4pm to 8pm.

The final round of qualification will be held on Monday April 20 with the semifinals and finals will take place on Tuesday April 21.

UAE win

Al Mansoori showed his fighting qualities to bounce from a 0-23 loss against Portugal's Abilio Valente, one of the best players in the world, to notch two wins in pool 2 of the BC2 category.

He defeated Bahrain's Mujtaba Mohammed 5-2 before outplaying Malaysia's Mohamed Sayfiq 8-1.

Hamda Mohammed Beljafla figured in a thrilling 4-4 draw in the BC4 category against Tunisia's Achref Tayahi to keep alive her chances of qualifying for the semifinals from pool 3.

She added to the excitement of the competition with this result against a male rival because Boccia provides a level playing field irrespective of gender.

UAE's hero Raessa Alfalassi fought tooth and nail before going down fighting against Portugal's Fernando Pereira 2-6 in pool 2 of the BC4 category on Saturday evening.

Competitive

UAE players have proved to be very competitive at the international level despite being in the sport of Boccia for a very short time.

"I'm quite glad with how this sport has developed and progressed within the country. We have achieved many milestones in a very short time. I still remember we had only two players six years ago. We started attracting a lot of players and became very popular among the different clubs in the UAE," said UAE Boccia Team coach Fawaz Al Hashemi.

He added: "This is very positive because this particular sport caters to two types of disability - cerebral palsy and weakness of limbs. This special types of disability forces many challenges. What's really amazing is seeing all these players having this big desire to learn the skills of Boccia and they are always there on time, especially Raessa who leads by example and works very hard. The second edition has the attracted the best world's best players from Portugal and Thailand creating a challenging platform."

Hospitality corner

The hospitality corner from the Hamdan Bin Mohammed Heritage Center has provided a benchmark for all Fazza Championships and for the disabled by keeping players happy.

"The main reason for having this corner is to convey the bright image of UAE and showcase its history and tradition. Not only do we support these championships, we want people to really feel our culture and live the experience of the traditional food, henna painting and Arabic calligraphy which becomes makes it more of a community culture that supports the sportspersons," said Souad Darwish, Director of Championships at Hamdan Bin Mohammed Heritage Center.

In other results, Thailand's Pornchok Larpyen, gold medallist in the BC4 category in the inaugural Fazza International Boccia Competition last year, produced an extraordinary performance to blank Kuwait rival Amani Ismael with a perfect score of 24-0.

Teammate Watcharaphon Vongsa, silver medalist in the Incheon Asian Para Games last year, continued his impressive run to top pool 2 in the BC2 category.

The 24 year-old defending champion beat Tunisia's Minawer Deykhi 17-0 and UAE duo Soltan Al Ketbi and Salem Al Kaabi 20-0 and 21-0 respectively.

Portugal's Pedro da Clara beat Iraq's Asil Abbas 10-1 in BC4 category and Portugal's Bernado Lopes beat Tunisia's Boubaker Heli 11-0 in pool 2 of BC1.

There were wins for regional countries with Tunisia's Achref Tayahi defeating Mohammed Almahdi of Kuwait 8-0 in BC2, Kuwait's Fahad Albabtain defeating Ayman Alheddi of Bahrain 7-0 in BC1 and Qatar Mohammed Faraj Al Marri featuring in the second tie of the opening day with Bahrain's Jaafar Omran in BC2 3-3.

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

Boccia is a highly specialised competitive sport for people with cerebral palsy or related neurological conditions and is practiced in more than 50 countries today. The events generally comprise mixed gender and feature individual and pair competitions. The game consists of four rounds and is played on a hard surface. The objective of the sport is to aim the provided game balls at a special target ball.

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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