“This is a place where you forget about the problems and difficulties even for a short time, but my desire is to leave in a society, in an environment which is also inclusive and to see as many bright, shining eyes, as I saw during these days.” – said Vladimir, the winner of the 2022 Boccia Open Championship of Armenia, Caroline Cox Rehabilitation Center.

This year Boccia Paralympic training camp and Boccia Open Championship of Armenia was held in Tsakhkadzor city from March 1 to March 3, 2022. The event was initiated by Full Life NGO with the financial support of the UNFPA Armenia. Around 8 teams and more than 30 athletes with disabilities participated in the Open Championship.

We met Victoria on the opening day of the championship. She is one of the experienced participants and successfully was throwing the ball during the demonstrational performances.

"I like to play with red balls, it is my favorite colour and I think it brings victory to me," says 15-year-old Victoria, who has been participating in the Boccia championship for six years.

Victoria says that she loves these events because it is a real opportunity to meet with lovely friends and make new ones: "I feel very happy during these days. This time my mother accompanies me. I have also a brother whom I also taught playing Boccia,” said Viktoria and smiled.

After a two-day intensive and hard competition, on March 3 the names of the winners were announced. They received cups, medals, certificates, and gifts. The winners, for the team competition, are the following: "Armenian Camp" - 3rd place, "Emily Aregak" - 2nd place and the Caroline Cox Rehabilitation Center got the first prize. As for the individual competition, the first 3 places were given to Shushanik Khachatryan, Arthur Muradyan, and Artak Davtyan.  After the award ceremony, Artak handed his medal to Martin, another participant of the championship saying that he deserved that award more.

Shushan got first place both in the "individual" and "team" competition.

"It was a tough competition, the teams were very strong, but we were well prepared and I think this was the reason, why we won the championship," said Shushan, who has been participating in the competitions for three years. She mentioned that she is keen to attend this tournament. "Here we meet with our friends, who I got to know thanks to this championship and similar events, I know almost everyone here," said Shushan, noting that they also are warmly welcoming newcomers and are very happy that their team is growing day by day.

Arthur and Martin are from Gyumri. Though they were participating for the first time, their team managed to take the second prize. Martin has not only succeeded in the Boccia championship but is also a weightlifting champion among juniors.

"This is not only a place where we compete with each other but a place where we share all our love. This is not just a game, it makes people change, it creates new opportunities for all of us. We all are winners and no matter which place you took in the competition, the first one or the fifth, because when you see happy, shining faces, especially those of children, you also feel rewarded."

Vladimir has been participating in the championship for three years. This year their team won the first prize. He said that the peculiarity of this sport is fact that everyone can play this sport and be a part of this championship regardless of age: even six- or seven-year-old children can compete with the adults, and that fact makes the game even more interesting.

“This is a place where you forget about the problems and difficulties even for a short time, but my desire is to leave in a society, in an environment which is inclusive as well and to see as many bright, shining eyes, as during these days.” - says Vladimir, the winner of the 2022 Bochia Open Championship of Armenia, Caroline Cox Rehabilitation Center.

 

About the Boccia

The sport eventually became widespread and was initially designed for people with cerebral palsy. It is now played by people who have any kind of neurological impairment that affects their motor function. It made its Paralympic debut in 1984 when the Games were held in New York, USA. But the sport’s roots date back much further to Ancient Greece, where players threw large stones at a stone target. The name "boccia" is derived from the Latin word for "boss" – "bottia" which means ball. Currently, people are playing Boccia with balls filled with sand, trying to throw the ball as close to the target white ball as possible.  The participants or teams who have more balls closest to the white ball became the winner.