Saturday, November 25th, 2023.- The boccia competition at Santiago 2023 concluded with gold medals for Brazil and Argentina. Similar to the majority of sports at Santiago 2023, boccia was overwhelmingly dominated by the Brazilians, who secured a total of five out of the eleven gold medals at stake. 

The last of these victories came in the BC1/BC2 team event, where Andreza de Oliveira, Luri Saraiva Da Silva, and Maciel de Sousa defeated the Canadians Lance Cryderman, Kristyn Collins, and Danik Allard by a score of 8-2. The winners earned a spot at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. 

"I am very happy for this victory and for having qualified for Paris. It was a great championship, and I feel very proud to have participated," said the Brazilian De Sousa. 

In the same category, Chile sought its first boccia medal but did not succeed. Andrea Guzmán, Germán Calderón, and Javier Bastías lost 10-2 to the Argentinians Allen Flores, Luis Cristaldo, and Jonathan Aquino. 

"We are very proud. Despite losing, we played a great match with Brazil in the semifinals, and now we faced the local team, with their audience. We had already beaten them in the group stage, but every match is different, and we were able to repeat the results," said Allen Flores. 

Finally, in the BC3 pairs, Argentina secured the gold by winning 6-5 against Peru, while Brazil claimed the bronze with a 6-2 victory over Colombia. 


Written by Luis Avendaño - Alejandro Pérez; translated by Rocio Rojas / Santiago 2023 vía Photosport
Photo by Luis Hidalgo / Santiago 2023 vía Photosport