PARIS: The dreams of Malaysian boccia player Noor Askuzaimey Mat Salim to make history as the first female player from the sport to reach the final stage of the Paralympic Games was dashed when she lost in the women’s individual BC4 (physical disability) semifinals here today.
Noor Askuzaimey had to concede to the prowess of Hong Kong’s Cheung Yeun, who dominated the match right from the start at the South Paris Arena 1 and eventually winning the match 7-0 and advancing to the final tomorrow.
The 2022 Hangzhou Asian Para Games champion however, still has an opportunity to achieve a remarkable success by becoming the first female athlete from the country to win a medal in boccia, even though she will be facing off against world number one from Colombia, Leidy Chica Chica, later today.
The match is scheduled for 6.10pm local time.
Chica Chica was stunned by China’s Lin Xinmei who edged the Colombian 4-3 in the other semifinal match.
Meanwhile, national boccia coach, Raja Zahrule Azhar Raja Khairul Anwar, said that the the player was nervous throughout the match and it affected her performance today.
“The game today wasn’t unattractive because I think she played quite well. Perhaps the environmental factors of such a large event was quite challenging for her,“ he told Bernama in the mixed zone.
Raja Zahrule hoped the 38-year-old player would rise to the occasion and deliver her best performance in the inaugural meeting against Chica Chica when they compete for the bronze.
Noor Askuzaimey launched her first campaign at the Paralympic Games brilliantly by winning all her matches in Group B, starting with a victory over Nataliia Konenko from Ukraine (8-6), followed by a narrow win against Alison Levine from Canada (3-2), and a decisive thrashing of Hanaa Elfar from Egypt, 11-3.
The player who advanced to the quarter-finals as the champion of Group B, continued her winning momentum by eliminating Chrisy Morfi Metzou from Greece, 7-0, yesterday.
