Yushae DeSilva-Andrade will play for a Paralympics boccia bronze medal after a narrow defeat in the semi-final in Paris this morning.

De Silva-Andrade lost a tie-break to home favourite Aurelie Aubert to just miss out on a chance to play for gold, but she still has the opportunity to secure Bermuda’s first-ever podium spot at the Games when she plays in the bronze-medal match at 1pm Bermuda time this afternoon.

In a see-saw semi-final, the Bermudian made a fine start moving 1-0 up after the first end but Aubert levelled the score at 1-1 in end two. DeSilva-Andrade regained the lead in end three after picking up another point to set up a tense finale, in which Aubert drew level to leave the score at 2-2 at the conclusion of the scheduled four ends.

That meant the players contested a tense tie-break, in which Aubert delighted the partisan crowd by picking up the shot she needed to make it into the final.

In the bronze-medal match, DeSilva-Andrade will play Hirumi Endo, from Japan, who she lost 5-1 to in pool play earlier in the competition.