An online boccia competition for student athletes held recently in Japan proved a successful method for promoting the disability sport while protecting the health of competitors, who face a higher risk of contracting COVID-19.
The national invitational Boccia Koshien, named after Japan's oldest and most storied baseball stadium, is offering technology to allow competitions to proceed without athletes having to travel far or be in crowded, close-contact settings.
Similar to lawn bowling, boccia is a score-based ball-throwing game developed for wheelchair users, and one of only two Paralympic sports that has no Olympic counterpart.
In the Boccia Koshien final held on March 6, three teams from special needs schools in Aichi and Fukui prefectures which got past the qualification stages competed virtually in the fifth edition of the tournament.
Each team played remotely from a gymnasium, following orders from organizers based in Tokyo and starting by placing their set of colored balls -- red, blue, and the white target ball which is called the jack -- on the court floor.
Each match was controlled by a sport executive serving as a referee for the respective schools while organizers watched via livestream.
The Ichinomiya special education school boccia team based in Aichi Prefecture demonstrated a high level of skill and accuracy en route to winning the title.
The qualifiers held in January were not conducted online, but each team submitted a video of its players displaying their skills as they tackled an assignment given them by the organizers.
Various physical barriers make long-distance travel for electric wheelchair users challenging, but with no need for such concerns, the accessible online event attracted 44 boccia teams from 25 prefectures across the nation.
Hidetaka Sugimura, a member of the silver-winning Rio Paralympic boccia team, said it is meaningful to have a web presence so people can learn about the sport.
"It helps improve the competitive level and expand (boccia's) geographic reach," he said.
Mitsuteru Murakami, the head coach of Japan's national team, said he discovered some potential performers through the qualification video material.
"I was impressed by the talents of some of the athletes I saw in the videos. This competition could lead to a bright future for boccia," he said.
