Congratulations to the PACE Panthers, who have been crowned the National Teams and Pairs Champions 2014!

After a gruelling day of competition, the PACE Panthers, featuring Alex (C), Ramandeep and Reshad earned their first medal in this competition.

Facing some incredibly strong teams, featuring paralympic and international gold medallists, the PACE Panthers played some phenomenal boccia throughout the course of the day.

After a slow start to the competition for the Panthers, Ramandeep Mann found form and inspired her team to qualify from the group stages with some wonderfully executed lay-up shots. With her accuracy, Reshad’s knowledge and Alex’s experience, the PACE Panthers started to communicate well, play effectively as a team and dismantle their opponents, eventually earning themselves a place in the final against the Boccia Bulldogs.

Each game was played over six ends and lasted approximately an hour. Where most athletes would have wilted, the PACE Panthers found the energy and composure to maintain their form right until the final end, with team captain Alex Dukes executing an incredible shot under intense pressure with his final ball of the game.

This was simply too much for the Boccia Bulldogs who could not get around it with their remaining balls, resulting in a 5-4 victory and a Gold medal for the PACE Panthers.