2022 World Boccia Africa Regional Championships
South Africa makes the most of home ground advantage at 2022 World Boccia Africa Regional Championships
The first-ever World Boccia Africa regional championships is underway in Ekurhuleni at the Birchwood Hotel and OR Tambo Conference centre. After two days of competition, the host nation is making the most of its home ground advantage.
South Africa makes the most of home ground advantage at 2022 World Boccia Africa Regional Championships
The first-ever World Boccia Africa regional championships is underway in Ekurhuleni at the Birchwood Hotel and OR Tambo Conference centre. After two days of competition, the host nation is making the most of its home ground advantage.
South Africa’s Seipati Majoe leads the BC1 female pool and will go up against Morocco Nadia Ihirri for gold.
Seipati Majoe
In the competitive BC 1 male category, Egypt’s Mohammed Bouihlaben leads the five-player pool after two wins and is on course for gold and a spot at the Boccia World Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in December.
In the BC 2 male category, South Africans Brett Dakin and Liakath Aziz, lead the standings with Dakin well placed to pick up his first international gold medal on home soil. This opportunity is a rare one as explained by his father and team manager, Guy, “ it’s a one-off opportunity because the biggest competitions are the worlds and the Paralympics and this is the chance to qualify for Worlds”
Brett Dakin
In the BC 3 category, Elanza Jordaan of South Africa will play Egypts Safaa Kenawy in a straight shootout for gold. In their first match, she won 10-1. If each player takes a win, then it will come down to the points difference between the two players, determined by the matches played. That’s the same situation in the BC 4 female class between South Africa’s Naledi Nhlapo and Egypt’s Hend Habeb. Nhlapo is set for the African title after a 4-3 win in their first game.
In the BC 3 male class, Egypt’s Samir Mostafa beat his compatriot Abdelrahman Saad in their first individual match while South Africa’s Karabo Morapedi lost his opener 2-7 to Saad leaving him with a lot of work to do in his game against Mostafa.
In the men's BC 4 class, Nabil Marzouk of Morocco leads the standings after two wins from two matches while South Africa’s Bukho Monakali and Siphiwo Papu have their work cut out for them after a win and loss return from their two games.
Pam Johnston of Boccia England is the head referee for the competition and said “It is an honour to be here and it’s exciting that the sport is developing on the continent.” Adding that “For many, this is a steep learning curve but everyone is so willing to learn and increase their knowledge of the boccia rules and how they have to be implemented at an international level.”
The competition is a chance for the game to grow and Johnston agrees, “Resources are needed so countries can keep up to date with rule changes and global standards. Global knowledge sharing would really benefit the growth of the game on the continent. We did give some training before we began but it also highlighted the need for more international exposure for the technical officials.”
The action continues tomorrow from 09:30.
Keep up to date with the latest from the championships by following the links below
Results: https://worldboccia.io/event/33
Live Results: https://worldboccia.io/event/33/live
Schedule: https://worldboccia.io/event/33/courts
Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSN--O0I_VFzGvdEynNDd2w
