Yushae DeSilva-Andrade and Omar Hayward reaped the benefits of hard work after securing bronze medals at the Veldhoven World Boccia Challenger event in the Netherlands yesterday.

Hayward competed in the 12-strong BC1 men’s division and DeSilva-Andrade among the seven-woman BC1 field, where they reached the semi-finals which was good enough to secure their spots on the podium.

Hayward lost his semi-final against Greece’s Panagiotis Soulanis 5-2 but bounced back to win the third-place contest with Spain’s Alvaro Ballesteros Cascales 5-3 to clinch the bronze.

Andrade lost her semi-final against Czech Republic’s Barbora Skopalova 4-1 before rallying to cruise to a comfortable 7-2 win over Spain’s Desiree Segarrain in the third-place contest.

“Yushae and Omar lost their semi-finals, however fought hard to win their next match and win the bronze,” Troy Farnsworth, the Bermuda coach, said.

“Both Omar and Yushae have been working hard on the technical/strategic aspects of boccia in training and it paid off in this competition. They were able to maintain their composure and focus in some difficult matches and never gave up.

“I'm sure with more and more competition experience they will have another opportunity to get on the podium as they both have excellent natural ability, motivation and love for the sport.

“Having two athletes from Bermuda win a medal at an international event with 24 nations competing is certainly a proud moment for our small team. It has been a huge team effort to get to this point and all the hard work over many years makes it worth it.”