S'porean Jeralyn Tan wins historic silver medal in boccia at 2024 Paris Paralympics

Singapore Paralympian Jeralyn Tan won the silver medal for boccia at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.

This is Singapore's first Paralympic boccia medal for Singapore on Sep. 2, 2024.

Tan played against French para-athlete Aurelie Aubert and lost 5-4.

With this medal, Tan is Singapore's fourth Paralympic medallist.

Close final

Aubert led 2-0 at the first end.

At the close of the second end, Aubert pulled ahead with a 5-0 lead.

At the close of the third end, Tan scored 3 points, narrowing the lead to 5-3.

However, the finals ended 5-4 to Aubert after the fourth and final end.

Her journey to gold/silver

In her preliminary round matches, Tan beat Aubert 6-1 on Aug. 29 and Spain's Amagoia Arrieta 5-1 on Aug. 31.

She then defeated the world number one, Brazil's Andreza Oliveira, 7-5 in the quarter-finals.

During the semi-finals, Tan beat Japan's Hiromi Endo 5-1 to secure her spot in the gold medal match.

Tan first picked up the sport in 2008 when she was a student at the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Singapore School.

She represented Singapore at the 2015 and 2017 ASEAN Para Games and won a bronze in the Mixed Team BC1/BC2 event.

She is currently ranked fourth globally and is the only BC1 female boccia player representing Singapore at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games.

How does Boccia work?

Boccia, derived from the Italian word meaning "to bowl", is a game initially designed for people with cerebral palsy.

Now, it is played by athletes who have any neurological impairment that affects their motor function.

There are four classes based on the type or degree of impairment.

A white target ball, called the jack, is thrown first onto the playing field.

Six red and six blue balls are then thrown or rolled by each player, which is called an "end".

At the close of each end, the player whose ball is the closest to the jack scores one point and receives an additional point for every ball that sits closer to the jack than the opponent's closest ball.

The match consists of four ends, and the athlete with the most points wins.

Top photos via SportSG/Jeremy Lee