David Smith Admits Boccia Has Caught Up With Him . . . And He Needs To Kick On

Britain's David Smith. (Photo by Ian RICE / AFP) (Photo by IAN RICE/AFP via Getty Images)

David Smith Admits Boccia Has Caught Up With Him . . . And He Needs To Kick On

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By David Williams

David Smith has admitted he needs to up his game if he is to remain among the elite of world boccia.

The Swansea athlete relinquished his Paralympic individual crown over the weekend as he lost two matches in quick succession to be left without a medal.

Thee two-time defending champion in the individual BC1class suffered a shock semi-final defeat to South Korea’s Jung Sungjoon and then a 5-3 loss to Paralympic debutant Muhamad Syafa in the bronze medal match.

“It’s so different,” said Smith about a sport that is growing rapidly.

“Maybe when I won gold in Rio, where there were maybe one or two (medal contenders), and then obviously in Tokyo, there were a few more. But it was still maybe me and a couple of others.”

“But this time around, I came in not dominant. I came in knowing that I had to hold on to the world number one for a long, long time, and I’ve been clinging onto it with my fingernails, knowing that there are people either side of me waiting to take it.”

At the South Paris Arena, Smith – parading his trademark red and blue hairstyle – won all three of his preliminary stage games. But he said he reached the “top of his game” early in the tournament.

“I knew it myself that I can’t do much more than that. That’s it – when you’re playing at the top level, and you know that you’ve got three games to go and you’ve already hit your top standard, when you had to hit your top standard to beat someone to get out of the pool on the right side,” he said.

“I gave myself the best possible chance, but I ran out of gas.”

In the semi-final, Smith surrendered a three-point lead that he had after the first end, allowing the South Korean athlete to pull off a 4-3 win.

Later in the day, he also gave up the lead to Indonesia’s Syafa.

“The floor (of the arena) didn’t help, so I’ve been struggling and trying to find my way through it. It just doesn’t suit my game,” Smith said.

“I’ve medalled in every single tournament I’ve have in the last three years, which is I think some achievement, considering the standard that you can now see. Just unfortunately, not this time around”

His bronze medal match defeat meant Smith did not make the podium in the individual event for the first time since Beijing 2008.

“I knew I would lose at some point, but just unfortunate the way that it turned out that it was a semi-final that I should’ve won.
“On another day, I would have won that comfortably.

“It’s just that the boccia gods were playing with me, massively, and it just didn’t work.”

Smith still has one more event in Paris before he heads home. He will compete in the mixed team BC1/BC2 event with Claire Taggart from 3 to 5 September.

“I think we’ve got a good team, and I think we’ve got a good chance as well as all the other teams,” he said.

“But who knows? I don’t know. I’m not going to predict the team anymore because my predictions have been rubbish.”

In other medal games, Portugal’s Cristina Goncalves won the inaugural women’s individual BC2 event after beating South Korea’s Jeong Soyeong 4-1. Japan’s Hiromi Ando took bronze on her Paralympic debut.

For the first time at the Paralympics, men and women are competing separately in the individual competition in Paris.

In the men’s BC2, Worawut Saengampa of Thailand won gold in the men’s tournament, with Muhammad Bintang Herlangga of Indonesia taking silver.

Thailand’s four-time Paralympic gold medalist Watcharaphon Vongsa finished with bronze.

David Smith Chasing “Three-Peat” Performance In Paris Paralympics

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