Team effort powers Aussie Boccia stars to world championship success

Australia’s top boccia players have paid tribute to their staff and supporters after backing up their historic success at the 2022 World Championships with another set of outstanding results at the 2026 World Championships, in Seoul. 

With the Pairs competition still to come, Paralympic medallists Dan Michel and ramp operator Ash Maddern, and Jamieson Leeson and ramp operator Jasmine Haydon (all New South Wales Institute of Sport scholarship holders), have consolidated their place among the world’s elite in the high-pressure precision sport, with Michel winning gold in the BC3 men’s and Leeson capturing bronze in the BC3 women’s. 

“I’m super proud, really happy with the game, I think we put on a really good show of boccia,” Michel told World Boccia after his nail-biting 3-2 win over Brazil’s Mateus Carvalho. “I’m super proud, really happy with the game, I think we put on a really good show of boccia Michel .  

“Mateus played fantastic, so I’m just really happy to come out on the right side of it.  The whole match was super tactical. Mateus is a very experienced player, he knows how to play the game well.  I knew it was going to be a very tactical battle. I tried my best to stay with it every ball and put the pressure on him. In the end it was enough.” 

Michel paid tribute to the entire Australian team, including coach Luke Kelly.  

“It’s a heck of an effort. International travel isn’t easy when you use a wheelchair,” he said.  

There’s a lot of things that happen behind the scenes that people don’t see, which goes into the performance on court.

Dan Michel, Paralympian, Boccia Australia

“There’s a lot of things that happen behind the scenes that people don’t see, which goes into the performance on court.  

“I’m super proud of my team and everyone who’s with me and supported me. I’m happy to be in this position once again.” 

Leeson and Haydon went down 6-3 to world No.1 Yejin Choi in the semi-final but rallied to secure a courageous tie-break win against world No.2 Dimitra Papadopoulou of Greece to snare bronze. Leeson and Haydon had been three points down heading into the final end before levelling the match.  

It shows that the level’s improving … this competition really has levelled the playing field,” said Leeson.

Before her quarter-final match, Leeson told World Boccia: “From both Dan and I, coming home with two golds and a silver last time in Rio, we were hoping to do that or better this time, which is a high expectation.  

“We just put our heads down at training back at home, trained our hearts out and did as much as we possibly could. Having Aaryan Shah on the team as well this time as a BC2 is really awesome, to see our team expanding.  

“There are always challenges when you’re an athlete, especially in boccia. The games, over the past couple of days, there’s been many upsets. It shows that the level’s improving … this competition really has levelled the playing field.” 

The World Boccia Championships concludes on Wednesday.

Paralympics Australia