Ayrshire star Kayleigh Haggo beats European silver medallist to post her first win at the Paris Paralympics
dailyrecord.co.ukAyrshire athlete Kayleigh Haggo is celebrating her first victory at the Paris Paralympics.The 25 year-old boccia star defeated European silver medallist, Portugal’s Ana Correia, 6-2 this afternoon in what was her second outing of the Games.On Thursday, Kayleigh lost her opening Pool C match to world number 3 Jeong Soyeong, of South Korea, 3-1.But today, she was back to her very best, easing to what proved to be a comfortable victory in the Women’s Individual BC2 competition.The former Carrick Academy pupil scored in the first end to take a slender 1-0 lead, before taking another two in the second end- against Correia’s one.With a 3-1 lead, Correia grabbed a point in the third end, but in the fourth end, Kayleigh made sure of victory, helping herself to another three to win the match 6-2.Kayleigh said afterwards: "I feel amazing – to get the first one, I just can’t believe it, I’m so happy.
I played really well yesterday so I was quite confident going into this game that if I played like I did yesterday, I could hopefully come out with a win and I did just that. "I’m really happy that I’ve used what I’ve learnt over the last six months.
I’ve played Ana three times and I’ve won all three and she’s higher ranked than me, so it does give me a lot of confidence going forward.“Once I knew I had won the game in the fourth end, it was critical for me to try to get some more points on the board.
That’s really important for qualification into the quarter finals but I still have a long way to go. It would be amazing to qualify for quarter finals – I came here with no expectation, no pressure so it would be amazing.” Read next: Don't miss the latest Ayrshire headlines – sign up to our free daily newsletter
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