The first ever Northern Cape Boccia Interprovincial Tournament saw some of the best South African athletes in boccia competing.
Amongst them were the South African BC3 class pair who qualified earlier this year for participation in the 2024 Paralympics in Paris.
The tournament at the Kimberley-based Elizabeth Conradie School for learners with physical disabilities, took place on 2 and 3 September and saw athletes from six provinces competing in the BC1, BC2 and BC3 class.
Five athletes who competed in July at World Boccia Africa Regional Championship in Cairo, were also present. These include the South African BC3 pair who are Karabo Maropedi from Bloemfontein and Elanza Jordaan from Brackenfell in the Western Cape.
The two Northern Cape athletes who were seen in action during the weekend, are FC Nel and Zonian Bosman, both in the BC3 class.
Johann van Heerden, boccia convenor in the Northern Cape, and coach of Nel and Bosman, says boccia is a technical game which requires specific and practised skills.
Olympic qualifier Jordaan said in an earlier interview with TygerBurger, a Western Cape based community newspaper of Media24, that a player has to think quick to determine a strategy as you have to play six balls in six minutes.
She said boccia needs good ability to plan, stamina and stress management.
After two days of exactly that, Kamogelo Selebano from North West won the gold medal in the BC1 class. Lefi Kgosimolao from Gauteng won silver, and Seipati Majoe from North West bronze.
In the BC2 class, Brett Daikin from Eastern Cape won gold, Liakath Aziz from Gauteng silver, and Moleo Mongwakgotla from North West bronze.
Morapedi from the Free State is the gold medal winner in the BC3 class, Jordaan won silver, and Nel from the Northern Cape won bronze.
Precision ball game
Boccia (pronounced “bot-cha”) is a paralympic sport introduced in 1984.
According to Northern Cape Boccia, it is a precision ball game like bowls, played competitively at provincial, national and international level by athletes who require a wheelchair because of their disability.
The word boccia is derived from the Italian word meaning to bowl.
The game is designed for athletes with a disability affecting their locomotor function. Boccia is played indoors on a court similar in size to a badminton court.
Athletes throw, kick, or use a ramp to propel a ball onto a court with the aim of getting closest to a “jack” ball.
The aim of the game is to get closer to the jack than your opponent. The jack ball is white and is thrown first.
One side has six red balls and the other has six blue balls.
The leather balls contain plastic granules and does not bounce. The type of ball – hard or soft – and the speed with which it is rolled determined how far it will roll.
As all athletes have impaired functional ability in all four limbs, they are classified into one of four classes – BC1, BC2, BC3 or BC4 – depending on their disability and functional ability.
To ensure competition is fair and equal, all paralympic sports have a system in place which ensures that winning is determined by skill, fitness, power, endurance, tactical ability and mental focus, the same factors that account for success in sport for able bodied athletes.
This first Northern Cape tournament took place under the auspices of the Northern Cape Sport Association for the Physically Disabled.
