Boccia is a precision ball sport, similar to bocce, and related to bowls and pétanque. The name "boccia" is derived from the Latin word for "boss" – bottia. The sport is contested at local, national and international levels, by athletes with severe physical disabilities. It was originally designed to be played by people with cerebral palsy but now includes athletes with other severe disabilities affecting motor skills. In 1984, it became a Paralympic sport and as of 2020, 75 boccia national organizations have joined one or more of the international organizations. Boccia is governed by the Boccia International Sports Federation (BISFed) and is one of three Paralympic sports that have no counterpart in the Olympic program.
Nigel Patrick Murray is a British Paralympic athlete. He is twelve time English National Champion and seven time British Champion and multiple Paralympic medal winner in the sport of boccia.
Gabriel Shelly is an Irish Paralympian. He won gold in Boccia at the 2000 Summer Paralympics and bronze in Boccia at the 2008 Summer Paralympics. He also participated in the 1996, 2004 Games and 2012 Games but did not win medals in those years.
Boccia has been contested at the Summer Paralympics since the 1984 Games in New York City and Stoke Mandeville. Five boccia events were held at those games, two for men, two for women, and one mixed event where men and women competed together. Since then, all boccia events at the Paralympics have been mixed. Athletes in this sport have cerebral palsy and are given a classification according to the extent of their disability. There were originally two classes, C1 and C2, with C1 corresponding to those with more severe impairment. In 1996 a "C1 with aid device" class was added, and in 2000 the system was changed to have four classes, BC1 through BC4.
Zoe Robinson is a British boccia player who won a gold medal in the Team BC1–2 event at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China. She went on to win a bronze in the same event at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, UK.
Tom Leahy is a paralympic athlete from Ireland competing mainly in category BC2 Boccia events and F32 throwing events. Leahy competed in eight Paralympic Games. He won three Paralympic gold medals, three silver medals, and two bronze medals.
Grigorios Polychronidis is a Greek boccia player with a Paralympic boccia classification of BC3. His specific disability is Spinal Muscular Atrophy.
Stephen McGuire is a Scottish Boccia player.
Zheng Yuansen is a Chinese boccia player who began playing the sport in 2008.
Jeong Ho-won is a Paralympic boccia player from South Korea.
Pattaya Tadtong is a Thai boccia player. He won a bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Paralympics. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics he won gold in the mixed individual BC1 and was on the gold medal-winning Thai team in the mixed team BC1-2. He, along with his 3 teammates, won a gold medal in Boccia in the Mixed Team BC1–2 event.
Pedro Cordero Martín is a Spanish boccia player. He represented Spain at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Summer Paralympics, winning a bronze medal at both the 2004 and 2008 games in the BC1-BC2 boccia team event.
Manuel Ángel Martín Pérez is a Spanish boccia player who is also known as Manolo Martín. He has cerebral palsy and is a BC2 type athlete.
José Manuel Rodríguez Vázquez is a Spanish boccia player, who has represented the country internationally at the Paralympic Games. Vazquez won a gold medal in the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens.
Boccia at the 2016 Summer Paralympics was held in Riocentro, in the Barra district of Rio de Janeiro in September 2016, with a maximum of 104 athletes competing in seven events. The programme consisted of four individual events, two pairs events, and one team event, spread across four classifications.
Cristina Gonçalves is a Portuguese boccia player who has cerebral palsy, She has competed for her country and won medals at several Summer Paralympics.
Leung Yuk Wing is a Hong Kong boccia player. He competed for Hong Kong at the Summer Paralympics.
Josh Vander Vies is a Canadian lawyer and former Paralympic athlete. He won a bronze medal for doubles boccia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London before retiring.
Hidetaka Sugimura is a Japanese boccia player. He has represented Japan since 2010 and in the Summer Paralympics since 2012.
Yan Zhiqiang is a Chinese paralympic boccia player. He participated at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in the boccia competition, being awarded the silver medal in the individual BC2 event. Zhiqiang also participated in the team BC1–2 event, being awarded the silver medal with his teammates Weibo Yuan, Zhang Qi and Kai Zhong. He participated at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in the boccia competition, being awarded the bronze medal in the individual BC2 event. Zhiqiang also participated at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in the boccia competition, winning no medal.
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