Historic boccia gold for GB

By Paul Carter

Great Britain’s boccia players have secured their first ever team  gold medal with a convincing victory over reigning champions Portugal.

The team of Nigel Murray, Dan Bentley, David Smith and Zoe Robinson beat Portugal 8-4 in the final of the mixed team BC1/BC2 event.

The Portuguese team took an early one point lead in the first end but Britain came back with two points in a closely-fought second end before dominating the third.

“It means absolutely everything to us, especially for Nigel,” said Smith.

“He’s waited for ages to get the medal and now we’ve got it. GB are the best team in the world and finally we have shown we really are number one.”

Head coach and team manager Jacqueline Lynn described the team’s victory as “awesome”.

“Words can’t describe it. They’ve worked out of their skins and played really hard and now they have got what they deserve,” she said.