East Cape side shines at nationals
THE Eastern Cape team excelled beyond expectation at the National Boccia Championships held last week at the NMMU Missionvale indoor centre.
Boccia is a Paralympic precision sport played by wheelchair users on indoor courts with leather boccia balls.
Each player has six balls which are thrown following the throwing of a jack. Four rounds or ends are played, with the total added depending on the number of balls a player gets closest to the jack.
The boccia event at the recent Rio Paralympics attracted capacity crowds due to the skills involved in playing the game.
Brett Dakin won his third gold medal in the individual BC2 category to cement his place as the topranked SA player in his category.
He fended off strong challenges in the semifinal against his fellow East Cape team member Lwando Gamca, who won the bronze medal, and Stefan Viljoen, from North West Province, in the final.
Lenno Jarman won his first gold medal in the BC1 individual category following a dominating performance. Aseza Mkonki won a silver medal in the BC4 individual category and Amahle Kani won a silver medal in the BC5 category.
Brett, together with his brother Ross, then teamed up with Lenno, Lwando and Alvino Swanepoel to successfully defend the gold medal won at last year’s championships.
The outstanding performance by the team earned them overall first provincial place for the most medals won at the championships at the closing ceremony held at the Feather Market Centre.