Stage set for repeat of Tokyo 2020 Paralympics finals

Two months after the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, the stage is set for a repeat of individual finals at the ongoing 7th Fazza Dubai 2021 World Boccia Asia-Oceania Championships here.

The finalists of BC3 mixed individual at the Tokyo 2020 Games – Japan’s Hidetaka Sugimura and Watcharaphon Vongsa of Thailand will be up against each other yet again, looking to settle the scores in BC3 male individual final at the Shabab Al Ahli Club on Wednesday.

It was in fact Japan vs. Thailand in both the male BC3 semifinals, with Vongsa first defeating Takayuki Hirose 3-1, before Sugimura pulled off a narrow 5-4 win another strong Thai player Worawut Saengampa, also part of Thailand’s Paralympic gold medal winning team.

In the finals, Sugimura, the reigning Paralympic gold medallist, would be hoping to continue the winning momentum while Vongsa, who also has a Team gold apart from the individual silver from Tokyo 2020, would be hoping to avenging his defeat here in Dubai.

With the World Championships qualification spots on offer at the Dubai 2021 Championships. both the champions have already made the cut.

In other events, South Korea’s Sungjoon Jung and John Loung of Hong Kong will meet in male BC1 finals after registering comfortable wins in the semifinals on the day.

In male BC3 final, South Korea will bank on Howon Jeong to repeat the Tokyo 2020 winning run over Kazuki Takahashi. Both the players were part of the BC3 finalist Pairs.

In BC4, it will be Hong Kong’s Yuk Wing Leung vs Pornchok Larpyen of Thailand, the Tokyo 2020 silver and bronze medallists.