Singapore’s Aloysius Gan and Nurulasyiqah Mohd Taha clinched the nation’s first-ever World Cup pairs medal at the New Taipei City 2024 World Boccia Cup yesterday, with a decisive 6-0 win in the bronze medal match against Thailand, currently world ranked number four in the Pairs BC3 category.
Thailand was represented by Ladamanee Kla-han and Akkadej Choochuenklin, who are ranked world number 7 in Female Individuals BC3 and world number 10 in Male Individuals BC3 respectively.
This achievement comes despite a shaky start to the duo’s Mixed Pairs BC3 campaign on Monday when they faced off world number three, South Korea, and suffered a 10-0 defeat. South Korea was represented by Jeong Ho Won and Kang Sun Hee, the Asian Para Games 2023 Mixed Pairs BC3 gold medalists. Jeong himself has been quite the legend in the Pairs BC3 category, having medalled at every edition of the Paralympic Games since Beijing 2008.
This is the first time that Aloysius and Nurulasyiqah have teamed up for an international competition.
The pair recovered their composure fairly quickly to beat Japan’s Kazuki Takahashi and Syaka Sekine 5-3 in the next round. Kazuki was part of the team that won the silver medal in the Mixed Pairs BC3 competition at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
In a nail-biting semifinal match against the world number one team, Australia, the pair equaled the score 4-4. Australia, represented by Daniel Michel and Jamieson Leeson, eventually won in the tiebreaker round.
Both Daniel and Jamieson are set to compete in Paris 2024. Daniel, currently ranked number one in the world in the Male Individuals BC3 category, is considered the biggest threat to Adam Peska, the Tokyo 2020 Male Individuals BC3 gold medalist, in his title defense.
Earlier on Monday, Aloysius won his first World Cup medal—a silver—after a narrow 3-2 loss to South Korea’s Jeong Ho Won in the Male Individuals BC3 finals.
Aloysius shared: “This is the best result I have achieved so far at the World Cup level for the individual event. I have been working hard to improve my floor adjustment and aiming before the competition, and I’m glad that I also managed to adapt to the competition environment better, which helped me play better.”
Aloysius is currently ranked number 15 in the world in the Male Individuals BC3 category, while Nurulasyiqah is ranked number 18 in the Female Individuals BC3 category.
Ms. Kelly Fan, Executive Director of the Singapore Disability Sports Council (SDSC), commented, “Although the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games have yet to begin, we need to prepare for the end of this Paralympic cycle and start planning for the next one. Our para athletes and support teams work tirelessly to qualify and represent Singapore well at every major game. Currently, we are testing different strategies to find the best way forward, even as we focus on the final preparations with our Paris-bound para athletes. The results from this competition have been very encouraging, and we will have valuable takeaways to build on in the coming years towards Los Angeles 2028.”
The New Taipei City 2024 World Boccia Cup, the final World Boccia competition before Paris 2024, is taking place from July 23 to August 1, 2024.
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