European Boccia: David Smith and Steph McGuire win gold for Great Britain

  • Published
Steph McGuire, Claire Taggart and David SmithImage source, Boccia UK
Image caption,

McGuire, Taggart and Smith will all aim to add to their medal tally in the team and pairs events

Paralympic champion David Smith was among the medallists as Great Britain won two golds and a silver in the individual events at the European Boccia Championships in Seville, Spain.

Smith retained his European BC1 title, beating Russia's Mikhail Gutnik 5-2 in the final.

Steph McGuire claimed victory in the BC4 event with a 4-3 win over Radek Prochazka from the Czech Republic.

But Claire Taggart lost 5-4 to Cristina Gonçalves in the BC2 women's decider.

The tournament is one of the first with separate individual events for men and women. Previously, all events were mixed or open, but the Paris Paralympic programme has proposed gender-specific events.

However, the team and pairs events, which begin on Monday and give GB more medal chances, will remain mixed.

"I'm ecstatic to retain my title from five years ago - ironically enough, the same final against Mikhail," said Smith.

"It's been a really good tournament with a very high standard and my competitors have pushed me all the way.

"I'm looking forward to getting my teeth stuck into the team event and see if we can get some more bling!"

Around the BBC - Sounds
Around the BBC footer - Sounds

Related topics

Around the BBC

Related internet links

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.