Yushae DeSilva-Andrade narrowly missed out on causing a major upset on the opening day of the Boccia World Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, today.

The 28-year-old could not have been handed a tougher opening group match within the BC1 Division, as she went up against World No.1 Andreza Vitoira Oliveira, of the host nation.

However, despite the daunting task, DeSilva-Andrade more than held her own with the match level at 2-2 before Oliveira managed to score three points in the crucial final end to claim a 5-2 victory.

Despite the disappointment, the Bermudian was more than content with her effort and is adamant she can take great confidence into her remaining group games against Katerina Curinova of the Czech Republic and Poland’s Kinga Koza.

“I’m really pleased with my performance,” she said. “There was only a few shots in it in the end and so I think I did really well.

“It was a tough first match and hard to keep up with her, but I managed to do that, keep it tight and in the end I really made her sweat.

“I can definitely take a lot of confidence from this into my next matches.”

Those sentiments were echoed by coach Troy Farnsworth, who believes DeSilva-Andrade has already shown she is more than capable of matching anyone at the tournament.

“There was really nothing in it,” said Farnsworth on the defeat. “Yushae won two out of the four ends and both in which she threw the jack to start. It literally came down to a couple of shots in that final end.

“Her opponent nailed a lob shot, which is the most difficult shot of all, to block the jack and Yushae just could not dislodge it.

“I’m really proud of her. She’s shown she is capable of competing against anyone here and she should take a lot of confidence from this first performance.

“Despite the defeat she’s still well in this tournament and has a great chance in her remaining two group games.

“No doubt she’ll be a little disappointed but she knows she is capable of competing with anyone here and she’s already shown that.

“There’s no easy games at world championships but it’s all about staying calm mentally and playing your game. Yushae has got that first game out of the way and so now she needs to stay focused and take that same level of performance into the next match.”