Bermuda’s hopes of winning a first Paralympic medal have increased after Yushae DeSilva-Andrade made it through to the boccia semi-finals on Saturday afternoon.

DeSilva-Andrade beat China’s Qi Zhang 4-2 in the quarter-finals to move just two games away from making history.

The Bermudian made a fine start to the game with Zhang, winning the first end 1-0 and extended that advantage to 3-0 at the halfway stage. A further point in the third end took the score to 4-0 before Zhang pulled a couple of points back with the game all but over.

Larry Hunt, DeSilva-Andrade’s coach was thrilled with the victory after a disappointing loss in th final pool match a few hours earlier.

“It was a great game and Yushae showed a lot of character after the loss this morning,” Hunt said.

“We couldn’t go back to the hotel between games as it was too far away, so we had to make the best of it, and she came back with a vengeance.

“Her mindset was in the right place, she treated it as a fresh game, got an early point and controlled the game from there.

“It was a great victory and tomorrow we’re looking for a similar result and hopefully on Monday we will be in the gold match.”

DeSilva-Andrade’s semi-final takes place at 6.55am Bermuda time on Sunday morning against home favourite Aurelie Aubert, from France, with the winner guaranteed a medal.