The drama finally arrived in the Individual Boccia competition as quarterfinal action saw some top names knocked out, some very close matches and home fans thrilled with a new hero.

Individual BC1

China's Wang Yi shocked his higher ranked Irish opponent Padraic Moran with a precise last throw that clinched the match and a place in the semifinals. World No. 37 Wang had exceeded expectations advancing out of the pool stages and now he has a chance to win a first ever Boccia medal for China, either gold or bronze.

World No. 1 Javier Francisco Beltran of Spain was dumped out of the competition by World No. 7 Antonio Marques of Portugal who clinched a tense 4-3 win in the last end.

Marques' fellow countryman and defending champion Joao Paulo Fernandes remains on track to win an unprecedented consecutive double gold medals, clinching the fourth end by one point for a 3-2 victory over Republic of Korea's Park Jae Suk who had impressed in the pool stages. Gabriel Shelly of Ireland looks in great form and had a smooth ride through to the semifinals, seeing off the challenge of World No. 3 Jose Vaquerizo of Spain for an 8-2 victory.

Individual BC2

Sydney gold medalist Nigel Murray of Germany showed his class as he executed an exciting comeback over the on-fire Pedro Cordero of Spain. Down by four points after end one, Murray didn't flinch and scored four consecutive points in the next to level the scores. A superb short throw in the third put him ahead 6-4 before he took the only point in the fourth for a 7-4 victory.

The dream of winning a gold medal at his sixth Paralympics is gone for World No. 2 Fernando Ferreira of Portugal who suffered a 5-2 loss against Pablo Cortez of Argentina, the World No. 9 who killed the match in the third end with a three point score.

Manual Angel Martin of Spain remains unbeaten after another steady performance, this time against World No. 13 Keizo Uchida of Japan. The Spanish World No. 47 eased to a 3-1 victory with a performance far above the level his ranking would indicate. World No. 1 Karen Kwok Hoi Ying of Hong Kong had no trouble as she steered past Cristina Goncalves of Portugal for an 8-2 final score.

Individual BC3

Grigorios Polychronidis of Greece won the battle of the world's top two players and Paul Gauthier of Canada must now look on and watch his rival's likely advance towards the podium and a gold medal. A slow, tight contest turned in the Greek's favor in the third end, putting him 5-2 ahead before a stalemate in the fourth made it 6-3.

One man who could stop Polychronidis in the semifinal is the 2006 world champion, Republic of Korea's Park Keon Woo who ended his teammate Shin Bo Mee's competition, beating him 8-0. Another ROK player through is Jeong Ho Won, who beat Santiago Pesquera of Spain 8-0. Armando Costa defeated his Portugal teammate Mario Peixoto 3-2 to clinch his place in the last four.

Individual BC4

When the pressure was on in the knock-out phase, the top ranked players didn't disappoint. World No. 4 Jose Maria Dueso of Spain knocked out China's Qi Cuifang by a comeback 6-2 win.

Veteran Fernando Pereira of Portugal may have been dreaming of a shot at medal glory but World No.1 Leung Yuk Wing of Hong Kong stopped him with a tidy 9-2 victory.

World No. 3 Eliseu Santos of Brazil appeared to have recovered after a poor start to the competition and he saw off Vivian Lau Wai Yan of Hong Kong 7-3.

The most emphatic of all the quarterfinal results was a 12-0 win for Brazil's Dirceu Pinto over China's Ni Suili. Both Qi and Ni were surprise qualifiers for the quarterfinals and appeared overwhelmed by the occasion.

(BOCOG September 8, 2008)