The Tokyo Paralympics and Boccia's individual quarterfinals were held, and in classes with mild disabilities such as cerebral palsy, Japanese captain Hidetaka Sugimura defeated Slovak players 8 to 1 to advance to the semifinals.
This is the first time a Japanese player has made it to the semi-finals individually.
Boccia is a competition designed for people with severe disabilities such as cerebral palsy, in which red and blue balls are thrown at each other to compete for how close they can be to the white target ball "Jackball".
On the 31st, an individual quarterfinal was held at the Ariake Gymnastics Center in Koto-ku, Tokyo, and in a class with mild disabilities such as cerebral palsy, Sugimura was the only Japanese player to break through the qualifying league and ranked second in the world. Played against a Slovak player.
In the first end, Sugimura took advantage of the opponent's control mistake and brought the ball closer to the "jack ball" one after another, scoring 5 points at a stretch and taking the lead.
In the 2nd end, 1 point was returned to the opponent, but in the 3rd end, 2 points were added with accurate pitching, and in the final 4th end, 1 point was added to win 8 to 1. I decided to advance to the semi-finals.
This is the first time a Japanese player has made it to the semi-finals individually.
Sugimura has now won four straight games without losing from the qualifying league, and in the semi-finals, he will also play against the Brazilian player who is third in the world in four consecutive wins from the qualifying.
The semi-finals will be held from 5:15 pm on the 31st.
"I was able to surpass myself in the past"
Sugimura recalled, "I've focused on practicing so that I can match even if I'm fighting in an area I'm not good at, so I'm glad that it led to results."
He added, "I lost in the quarterfinals in the last two tournaments. The goal of this tournament is to go beyond my past self, but I was able to overcome it one step at a time. I want to cherish each and every match in front of me, "he said with enthusiasm for the first semi-final.