Boccia team hand Thailand third Paralympic gold
Fresh from taking bronze medal in the mixed pairs on Monday night, the boccia team made Thailand proud when they handed the country’s third Paralympic Games gold medal in the mixed team (BC1-2 class) event.
Spearheaded by Pattaya Tadtong, gold medallist at the previous Paralympic Games four years ago in London, Thailand, which also comprised Worawut Saengampa, Subin Tipmanee and Watcharaphon Vongsa, made their mark to overpower Japan 9-4 (0-1 2-0 4-0 2-0 1-0 and 0-3) in the gold-medal match at the Carioca Arena 2.
Six ends of competition were held. The Thai boccia team made a poor start to go down 0-1 in the opening end, but bounced back in the second end and continued their remarkable run in the following ends. The sixth and final end saw the Thai team succumb 0-3 defeat, but their final aggregate 9 against Japan’s 4 saw Thailand run away with the title.
The Thailand’s Paralympic contingent have already captured three gold medals in Rio de Janeiro. The first two golds were won by wheelchair racers Prawat Wahoram (T53-54) and Pongsakorn Paeyo (T53) in the men’s 5,000 and men’s 400m respectively. They also claimed additional one silver in wheelchair racer Pongsakorn’s 100m and two bronze medals (Rungroj Thainiyom in men’s table tennis and boccia mixed pairs).
