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Australia’s Boccia players Dan Michel and Spencer Cotie have continued their winning form in the second preliminary round of the Tokyo Paralympic Games.
Dual Paralympian Michel together with Assistant Ash McClure, delivered another strong result with an 8-2 win over Sweden’s Maria Bjurstrom.
Taking the first end 2-0, Bjustrom fought back to claim the second end 2-0. But Michel came back with a 2-0 in the third and powered home with 4-0 in the fourth.
While the match was closer than his first round, Michel was pleased with his performance.
“I feel really good, one thing I can take from that game if nothing else is my ability to respond to adversity, I experienced a bit of that out there today,” said Michel.
“I gave away a penalty and my opponent came back at me really hard in the second end. I had to play a lot of good balls to get the win in the end and to be able to come through in convincing fashion after all that is encouraging for me.
“Another good game and something to build on,” he said.
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Fellow Aussie Cotie together with Zoe Dix (assistant) delivered back to back wins at their first Paralympic Games, today taking a 5-2 victory over Jamie McCowan (Great Britain).
While Michel and Cotie are in the same class and could potentially meet during the cross overs, Michel said he’s thrilled to see Cotie doing so well as part of his Paralympic debut.
“It is super exciting… I expected us both to do really well here. I know how well Spencer is playing at the moment, having played him a whole bunch in Australia.
“I was certain he was going to come here and do some really good stuff. I’m super happy for him to be going well. Hopefully we can both go well again the next round and get another win for Australia,” he said.
The duo have one more game left in their preliminary stages before the quarter finals.
Round 3 – Sunday 30 August
6:25pm – Dan Michel vs Evelyn de Oliveira (BRA)
6:25pm – Spencer Cotie vs Scott McCowan (GBR)
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By: Lauren Ryan, Paralympics Australia
Posted: 29 August 2021
