By Graham Thomas
Italy enjoyed a successful home tournament at the Olbia 2026 World Boccia Challenger, with Gabriele Zendron claiming BC3 men’s individual gold and the hosts adding silver medals in both the BC3 pairs and BC1/BC2 team competitions.ย
The event, held in Sardinia from October 12-20, brought together 77 athletes from 22 nations across individual, pairs and team events.
Zendron delivered one of the standout performances, beating Colombia’s Jesus Romero 4-2 in the semi-finals before edging Spain’s Alejandro Diaz 6-5 in a closely fought final. Italy’s Michela Maria Favini and Zendron then finished runners-up in the BC3 pairs, losing 4-3 to Argentina in the final, while Colombia took bronze.
Italy also secured silver in the BC1/BC2 team event through Vincenzo Russo, Claudia Targa and Riccardo Zanella. The trio recovered from defeat against Spain with a 9-2 victory over Ukraine, although the Netherlands ultimately claimed gold.
Great Britain had a notable milestone of its own, with Welsh athlete Rachel Bailey making her international debut in the women’s Britain’s Nicola Taylor provided another highlight by winning the women’s BC1 title, beating Canada’s Claudia Bertrand 5-2 in the final.
Bertrand, also making her international debut, had reached the final after a dramatic 4-3 extra-end semi-final victory over South Korea’s Eunju Hyun.
The Challenger offered valuable international experience across the BC1, BC2, BC3 and BC4 classifications, as athletes continued their campaigns for world-ranking points and progress towards the Los Angeles 2028 Paralympic Games.
BC1 Female
- ๐ฅ Gold: Nicola Taylor โ ๐ฌ๐ง Great Britain
- ๐ฅ Silver: Claudia Bertrand โ ๐จ๐ฆ Canada
- ๐ฅ Bronze: Eunju Hyun โ ๐ฐ๐ท South Korea
BC1 Male
- ๐ฅ Gold: Juan Manuel Montilla โ ๐ช๐ธ Spain
- ๐ฅ Silver: Volodymyr Roiko โ ๐บ๐ฆ Ukraine
- ๐ฅ Bronze: Vladyslav Kukhta โ ๐บ๐ฆ Ukraine
BC2 Female
- ๐ฅ Gold: Chantal van Engelen โ ๐ณ๐ฑ Netherlands
- ๐ฅ Silver: Ainhoa Menaka Larruzea โ ๐ช๐ธ Spain
- ๐ฅ Bronze: Vivien Nagy โ ๐ญ๐บ Hungary
BC2 Male
- ๐ฅ Gold: Mohamed Ibrahim Soliman โ ๐ช๐ฌ Egypt
- ๐ฅ Silver: Andri Moroz โ ๐บ๐ฆ Ukraine
- ๐ฅ Bronze: Marco Dekker โ ๐ณ๐ฑ Netherlands
BC3 Female
- ๐ฅ Gold: Vivi Virtanen / V. Pohjasniemi-Lantela โ ๐ซ๐ฎ Finland
- ๐ฅ Silver: Stefania Ferrando / J. Ferreyra โ ๐ฆ๐ท Argentina
- ๐ฅ Bronze: Laura Utrero Rico / L. Martin โ ๐ช๐ธ Spain
BC3 Male
- ๐ฅ Gold: Gabriele Zendron โ ๐ฎ๐น Italy
- ๐ฅ Silver: Alejandro Diaz / D. Arcas โ ๐ช๐ธ Spain
- ๐ฅ Bronze: Jesus Romero / M. Rubio โ ๐จ๐ด Colombia
BC4 Female
- ๐ฅ Gold: Leidy Chica Chica โ ๐จ๐ด Colombia
- ๐ฅ Silver: Alexandra Szabo โ ๐ญ๐บ Hungary
- ๐ฅ Bronze: Sara Aller Mayo โ ๐ช๐ธ Spain
BC4 Male
- ๐ฅ Gold: Edilson Chica Chica โ ๐จ๐ด Colombia
- ๐ฅ Silver: Tyler McLelland โ ๐จ๐ฆ Canada
- ๐ฅ Bronze: Gergo Gigacz โ ๐ญ๐บ Hungary
Pairs events
BC3 Pairs
- ๐ฅ Gold: Argentina โ ๐ฆ๐ท
- ๐ฅ Silver: Italy โ ๐ฎ๐น
- ๐ฅ Bronze: Colombia โ ๐จ๐ด
BC4 Pairs
- ๐ฅ Gold: Colombia โ ๐จ๐ด
- ๐ฅ Silver: Hungary โ ๐ญ๐บ
- ๐ฅ Bronze: Spain โ ๐ช๐ธ
Team event
BC1/BC2 Team
- ๐ฅ Gold: Netherlands โ ๐ณ๐ฑ
- ๐ฅ Silver: Italy โ ๐ฎ๐น
- ๐ฅ Bronze: Spain โ ๐ช๐ธ
