China’s Sun shines amid scorching scores at Fazza World Open Boccia Competition – Dubai 2016

Individual athletes took centre stage on the third day of the Fazza World Open Boccia Competition – Dubai 2016 here at Al Nasr Sports Club as the overall tournament reached the halfway stage.

The singles, of course, afforded those who hadn’t performed as well as they may have liked in the pairs or teams another shot at sporting glory now that they’re on their own.

However, somewhat unsurprisingly, those who had excelled in prevailing in the pairs or triumphing among a team were still in fine fettle out on the courts.

Russia’s Aleksandr Legostaev (20-1), Kai Sun (21-0), of China, and Slovak Robert Mezik (20-1) sent out early statements of intent with comprehensive victories against Iraqi Abdullah Al Zuhairi, the UAE’s Omar Al Falasi and Sayed Al Wedaei, of Bahrain in BC3, BC1 and BC2 action respectively.

Not to be outdone, Mezik’s compatriot Samuel Andrejcik also achieved a 20-plus score with a 21-0 win over Kuwait’s Tahani Ismael in the BC4 classification, equalling the day’s biggest winning margin previously registered by Sun in the process.

Four scores thus breached the 20-point barrier and 21 tallies were either 10 or above, meaning a quarter of the day’s scores (21 of 84, 25%) were in double-digit territory.

Hong Kong’s Hiu Lam Yeung and Fernando Ferreira, of Portugal, were closest to joining Andrejcik, Legosataev and Mezik as they posted 19-0 and 17-0 successes against the UAE’s Sultan Al Ketbi and Hamdah Al Mansoori in the BC2 category.

Nonetheless, the regional representatives did emerge triumphant from three matches in the late afternoon, with Saleh Al Aleeli edging the tie-break versus Kuwait’s Mohammad Al Mutairi following a share of the spoils (2-2) and Kuwaiti Fahad Al Babtain downing Al Falasi 13-0 in the BC1 classification. 

Emirati Salim Al Madhani then chalked up the host nation’s third win in as many days after beating Bahrain’s Noora Al Amri 16-0 in BC1.

Much like the first two days of this event, which were devoted to the pairs and teams contests, the singles competition is split into four separate categories depending upon the level of disability (BC1, BC2, BC3 & BC4), with qualifying pools for each one.

BC1 has six groups (four pools of three & two pools of four) and the six pool winners and two highest-points qualifiers will make it through to the quarter-finals on the fifth and final day in Oud Metha.

BC2, BC3 and BC4 all have seven pools (seven groups of three), but the former classification has one pool of four owing to the fact it has 22 entrants compared to the 21 in BC3 and BC4 respectively. The seven group victors and one highest-points qualifier will progress to the quarter-finals.

Ninety qualifying matches are scheduled to take place across a jam-packed schedule all in all, with 42 on the third day and 48 on the fourth prior to the start of the knockout rounds (quarters, semis, bronze medal play-offs and finals) on day five.

This tournament is being held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Sports Council (DSC), organised and supervised by the Dubai Club for the Disabled with the support of 

strategic partners the Hamdan Bin Mohammed Heritage Center (HHC) and in collaboration with the Boccia International Sports Federation (BISFed), the General Authority for Youth and Sports Welfare (GAYSW), the DSC and the UAE Paralympic Committee.