Wanganui boccia player Ian Wright was unable to claim the regional title on offer last weekend, but showed enough to suggest he will be competitive later this year at the New Zealand National Championships in Wellington.
The object of boccia is to place as many balls as close as possibleto the white target ball, while preventing your opponent from doing the same.
Wright, who has only recently picked up the sport after hearing about it through a friend, qualified for the quarter-finals after finishing second in his pool, but was eventually beaten by Palmerston North's Jenneen Flack in a sudden death tie-break.
Many of the other athletes in Wright's grade have competed for several years and they played like athletes familiar with competitive and knockout Boccia.
"In his first sanctioned tournament, Ian should be very proud of his achievements this weekend against much more experienced athletes from the lower north region. He will only get better from here," Boccia New Zealand director Luke Morriss said.
Meanwhile, fellow Wanganui boccia athlete Diederik Struijck was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to injury but still made the trip south to offer some support and advice.
