Sports classification

It consists of the medical-functional evaluation for athletes, in order to group them according to the degree of impairment or physical functional limitation on their sports performance and thus ensure a fair competition.

After this, athletes are classified in the following categories:

BC1:They have severe activity limitations affecting the legs, arms and trunk, and are usually powered wheelchair users.

BC2: Players who can propel boccia with their hands. Para athletes in this sport class are not eligible to have an assistant.

BC3: Players with severe motor dysfunction in all four limbs. This implies that they cannot take the boccia with their hands or feet to generate propulsion and can use a technical aid such as the ramp to propel it. They compete with an assistant, who maintains communication with the player without looking towards the court at any time.

BC4: Players who have severe motor dysfunction in all four limbs as well as poor trunk control. However, they demonstrate enough skill to propel boccia over the field of play. Athletes in this sport class are not eligible to have an assistant.

History

This sport is probably one of the oldest practiced by humans: carvings of Egyptian figures throwing stones have been recorded since 5200 BC.

Boccia made its Paralympic debut at New York 1984, where 19 athletes represented five countries. Currently, it is practiced in more than 75 countries and 116 athletes competed in this discipline at the Tokyo 2020 Games.

It was admitted to the Parapan American Games at Buenos Aires 2003. Then, at Rio de Janeiro 2007, boccia was not part of the program, but returned at Guadalajara 2011 until the current versions of the Parapan American Games.

The Parapan American medal table is led by Brazil with 19 medals in total, 10 of them golds.