BOCCIA star David Smith believes London 2012 has whetted the appetite of the British public to see greater coverage of his sport all-year round.

The Eastleigh man was forced to settle for silver in the individual BC1 event at the weekend, after being beaten 7-0 by Thailand's Pattaya Tadtong.

But as in the team discipline, when Smith helped win British bronze last week, the ExCeL was once again packed to capacity and full of home fans willing on the 23-year-old.

Though disappointed to miss out on the title of Paralympic champion, Smith was more than keen to reflect on a satisfying second Games appearance.

And after being amazed by the support and the coverage boccia has received over the past week, the world number two wants to see it remain in the public conscious.

“I love the game and with all of this coverage people are starting to know about boccia,” said Smith, who won team gold in Beijing four years ago.

“Hopefully over next four years there will be coverage in all we do, and not just Paralympics.

“Boccia gives people a great opportunity and as long as the public get involved we can see it becoming a successful game.

“The whole Paralympics has been perfect and in my opinion much better than Beijing. “The village, the environment and the crowd have all been fantastic.

“The crowd has been extremely knowledgeable as well and not just people bunged in, they knew what was going on. Hopefully what we have given to them will see their interest remain.”

 

Full story in today's Daily Echo