Arborfield’s Will Arnott narrowly missed collecting a gold medal at last weekend’s European Para Championships.
The elite boccia player from Arborfield won three of his pool matches and even beat the 2020 Paralympic Champion Adam Peska to secure passage to the final.
Boccia is a game similar to boules. It is a sport of strategy and skill and it has no Olympic counterpart. It is played by athletes who have the most profound disabilities within the Paralympic movement.
The UK team returned home from the championships with six medals. The haul was double that secured two years ago at the Europeans in Seville. Britain also won more medals than any other nation at the tournament, albeit the squad didn’t win a gold.
In the individual event, GB took a further four medals – two silver and two bronze and arguably the highlight was Arbofield’s Arnott and his ramp assistant Connor Wellfare winning their first major international medal.
On collecting silver, Arnott said: “It’s my first major international medal. I’m disappointed about how the final went; I thought I could have played better.
“The rest of the tournament has been so good for me. I think I’ve been threatening to have a result like this, maybe for four or five years, and to finally get it is really a great experience.
“This is a huge confidence booster for me at this level of event. This is the biggest event where I’ve earned ranking points by miles.”
