It has been a dramatic, exciting and historically significant opening for boccia as the tournament began at the Paris 2024 Paralympics.
Not only is boccia celebrating its 40th anniversary as a Paralympic sport, but for the first time the 124 athletes are competing in separate men’s and women’s individual events.
The ground-breaking theme continued on day one of competition when Hanaa Elfar became the first boccia athlete from an African nation to win a match at the Paralympic Games.
Elfar, from Egypt, beat Ukraine’s Nataliia Konenko, 8-1,in the Women’s Individual BC4 Preliminary round.
In a lively and vibrant atmosphere at the South Paris Arena, there was plenty for home supporters to get behind also, as France’s Faycal Meguenni almost produced a huge shock before losing to four-time Paralympic champion Watcharaphon Vongsa in the men’s individual BC2 preliminary round.
Vongsa had not conceded a point in the first two ends but backed by vocal home fans Meguenni fought back in the third and fourth ends to level at 5-5, forcing a decider, which Vongsa won.
Meguenni said: “The huge crowd was a big surprise. We are not used to having this kind of atmosphere at boccia matches.
“I was a little bit scared in the beginning when I was getting onto the field of play. It felt quite special to be doing that for the first time at a Paralympics in my own country.”
Among other opening day victors, Great Britain’s David Smith began his pursuit of a third straight BC1 individual gold with a 5-2 win against Jose Oliveira of Brazil in the men’s category.
Smith said: “It’s the pinnacle of my sport. Competing at the Paralympics is the most important tournament I will ever play in.
“It’s a great opportunity to be able to play, not only for myself, but for my teammates, the country, and also for the sport.
“It’s a great platform to showcase the sport to a wider audience, to try and play some of our best stuff, but with more atmosphere, with crowds, with TV coverage. All of those things combined make it really special.”
In the women’s equivalent, Dora Basic of Croatia emerged as the day’s highest scorer courtesy of her 19-0 triumph over Maha Aounallah of Tunisia.
Alexandra Szabo of Hungary – who beat Anita Raguwaran of Germany 6-0 in the Women’s Individual BC4 – recognised the historic significance of the day for boccia.
Szabo said: “It’s a big day for boccia. Separating men’s and women’s events at the Paralympics is a good move for boccia overall, but especially the women’s players.
“When they first separated the events in the European championships, I won a medal there. And, here, too, I want to win a medal.
“Gold is the target, but I will be happy to win a medal of any colour.”
