Youngest ever champion crowned at boccia championships

PLAYERS from across the isles came to compete for the title of Shetland boccia champion on Sunday (20 October) at the Clickimin.

Boccia is a paralympic sport in which athletes throw, kick or use a ramp to propel a ball onto the court with the aim of getting closest to a ‘jack’ ball.

Due to the high number of participants, matches consisted of two ends – with a tie-breaker end if the score was all square.

Four groups battled it out in the group stages to decide who would move on to the knockout rounds.

Sixteen players progressed to the knockout stages. With boccia being such a tactical and technical sport, it just takes one shot to lose or win the match.

This was seen in many of the knockout rounds, with players who had topped their groups and won all of their matches then losing out by one point and being knocked out.

The semi-finals saw Lottie Murie take on Charles Gear.

Both players had met in the group stages, with Gear winning 2-1 to top the group.

He had the jack in hand in the first round, and capitalised on this to take the first end by one point.

However, Murie kept her nerve and managed to deliver two very accurately placed shots up next to the jack ball to claim the second end and to win the first semi-final 2-1.

The second semi-final was between Samuel Bailey and Erin Miller.

Despite Bailey only joining the Shetland Boccia Club a few months ago, he demonstrated great talent in knocking out many opponents to get to the semi-final.

However he was up against the experienced Miller, who has taken part in competitions both on and off island.

Miller took control of the semi-final with multiple push off and push on shots to secure the 2-0 victory.

The bronze medal match was a show of great sportsmanship. Although Gear won 3-1, he decided to hand over the bronze medal to Bailey for his excellent skills all tournament and his passion for the game.

The final was a nail-biting back and forth between two of the youngest competitors on the day.

Murie came out swinging with a perfect placement shot up on the jack, followed by two other shots in the scoring zone to secure the first end by three points.

Miller fought back hard and looked to have secured a tie on the last end, but her final ball rolled just outside the scoring zone to end the final 3-2 to Murie.

She becomes the competition’s youngest ever winner.

Ability Shetland thanked all the players and especially the volunteers for their help on the day, saying that without their volunteers they could not run the competition.

Anyone who would like to try boccia or join the Shetland Boccia Club is encouraged to get in touch with Ability Shetland.