The first round of matches at the BISFed 2016 World Individual Championships got underway today and the spectators didn’t have long to wait for a huge shock; with David Smith (Great Britain) being beaten by Argentinian Mauricio Javier Ibarbure. Admittedly Smith wasn’t at his best but Mauricio didn’t make a single mistake over the course of the game and was the deserved 5-1 victor. The defeat leaves World number 2 Smith needing everything to go in his favour if he is to progress into the knockout stages.
Over on court 7 in the BC3 competition Canada’s Eric Bussiere and Slovakia’s Adam Burianek were going head to head with neither player able to take charge. Bussiere took a 3-1 lead into the final end but the Slovakian was able to get the 2 points needed to take the game to the tie break. With the other round 2 games completed all eyes were on the pair as they once again traded blows to the end with Adam taking the tie break with his final ball.
After the break the drama continued. This time over on court 6, where Ekaterina Sedova (Russia) looked to have her match won. Going into the final end she was 5-1 up, but a long jack from Panagiotis Prokopis Soulanis (Greece) followed by a pin point first ball left Ekaterina under pressure. Unfortunately for the Russian fans, Sedova was unable to trouble the jack and left the door wide open for Soulanis. The man from Greece did not disappoint and wasted no time placing shot after shot next to the jack and with his final ball ensured an emphatic 6-5 victory.
The loudest action came from the spectators watching the opening game in pool H of the BC4 event. Stephen McGuire (Great Britain) and Ilulian Ciobanu (Canada) were locked at 2-2 going into the final end and displayed some of the best Boccia of the day in the final end to take the score to 3-3. McGuire landed his final blue closest to the jack but left Ililian with chance to take the win with his final ball. Despite the encouragement from the Canadian supporters, Ililian was unable to deliver and Stephen took the victory.
The full results have now been assessed by the technical delegate and his assistant and can be downloaded here:
