Paralympian's new push

Paralympics silver medalist Liam Sanders is well on the way to his next sporting goal

A trip to the Beijing Games in 2008 is already in the sights of Paralympics silver medallist Liam Sanders.

This month, the New Zealand boccia player will compete at the Asia/Pacific games hosted by Malaysia, the first step to qualifying for the Beijing Paralympics. 

Sanders, an AUT sport and recreation student, is aiming for a bachelor’s degree, but for the next couple of weeks he’s putting his books aside to focus on sport.

The Prime Minister’s Scholarship recipient made his international debut at the 2002 world champs in Portugal and is now ranked 8th in his class in the world. He sees the Asia/Pacific games as a great opportunity to gauge his progress – and that of the team – as they gear up for Beijing.

“It’s going to be a worthwhile tournament as there are several strong teams competing,” Sanders says.

“Thailand and Hong Kong were competitive in Athens last year and a couple of years back Korea were world champions.”

Sanders, 18, practises boccia – a form of indoor bowls – five days a week in his hometown, Pukekohe. He works out at the gym twice a week and hones his fitness with swimming, heading to the local pool every Friday to complete 12 laps.

He says the boccia team is intent on meeting, if not improving on, the benchmark set in Greece.

“After we won silver in Athens the New Zealand team world rankings jumped up to third place so it’s vitally important we maintain that standard.”