Singaporean duo clinch pairs gold at 2023 World Boccia Youth Championships
The duo consists of 16-year-old Aloysius Gan and 18-year-old Yan Jia Yi.
Local Boccia players Aloysius Gan and Yan Jia Yi clinched the gold medal in the BC3 Pairs event at 2023 World Boccia Youth Championships on Jul 14.
The duo started off with a 7-1 win against Brazil in the first round, before succumbing to a narrow 5-4 loss against France. They eventually topped the group after beating Canada 7-1 and Portugal 9-0 in the third and fourth rounds respectively.
Held at Povoa de Varzim in Portugal between Jul 8 and 14, this year’s tournament featured close to 50 youth athletes from 12 nations.
The duo’s gold medal win follows their success in the individual categories, where Aloysius won the gold medal in the BC3 Individuals (Male).
He won all three of his individual games, beating France’s Lorick Marciniak and Portugal’s Luis Costa 5-1 in the first two rounds before a 11-0 win against Brazil’s Lucas Fernandes in the finals.
In the BC3 Individuals (Female), Jia Yi clinched the bronze medal. After a 7-2 loss to Hong Kong’s Ho Yan Chan in the first round, she defeated Portugal’s Alice Moreira 4-0 and Hungary’s Dalma Ujpal 6-1 in the progressive rounds.
However, she fell to a narrow 3-2 loss to Greece’s Dimitra Papadopoulou in the semi finals, before beating Hong Kong’s Ho Yan Chan 5-2 in the bronze medal match.
Shared through a press release by Singapore Disability Sports Council (SDSC), Aloysius, who last won the silver medal in the BC3 Individuals (Male) event at the recent 2023 ASEAN Para Games in Cambodia said that the successes he achieved at the tournament were a result of “choosing the right tactics”.
“I had to maintain my composure and focus for the subsequent matches. I believe this is the key to winning the game,” he added.
Jia Yi also shared that she was happy with her performance, paying tribute to her competition partner, Zi Qun who she sees as her “elder sister”.
Executive Director of the SDSC, Kelly Fan, said that the organisation is “incredibly proud of Aloysius and Jia Yi for their outstanding achievements”.
“They still have a long way to go, but this is a promising start. We hope that more educational institutions and corporations will come forward to support our youths with disabilities, enabling them to realise their full potential through sport,” she added.
