Yushae DeSilva-Andrade Reflects On Medal Win
[Written by Stephen Wright]
Yushae DeSilva-Andrade has described her silver medal win at the World Boccia Cup in Montreal as the highlight of her career.
DeSilva-Andrade delivered a series of impressive displays to finish runner-up in her division, losing 5-3 to Yee Ting Jeralyn Tan, of Singapore, in a hard-fought final on Friday.
The 29-year-old said she was proud to claim silver for Bermuda as she builds towards the World Boccia Challenger in Santiago, Chile, in June, and the World Boccia Cup in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in September.
She also hopes to represent Bermuda at the Parapan American Games in Santiago in November.
“[Winning silver] was a big highlight for me because it’s the highest I’ve ever finished in a competition,” DeSilva-Andrade told Bernews.
“I don’t know what it was about this competition, but going into it, I had a feeling I’d do well.
“I’ve had good feelings about other competitions, but this was different, so to actually make it happen was awesome. I’m still in a bit of shock I won silver.”
En route to the final, DeSilva-Andrade was involved in a nerve-shredding semi-final against Angeline Lawas, of Malaysia, winning a thrilling tie-breaker after fighting back from 5-0 down.
“In the semi-final, I was down 5-0 going into the last end, so I had to go long to try and recover,” she said.
“Once I knew my opponent couldn’t get her balls up there, and she left me a channel, I knew all I had to do was keep my balls on target to try and get five points, which I did.
“Originally, I was trying to get six points because I knew five would only take me into a tie-breaker, but it didn’t quite work out that way.
“Going into the tie-breaker, I was nervous because I knew whoever won the coin toss would get to throw first, and thankfully it was me.
“I slowed down and tried to get my ball on target as much as possible; I got the point off her.”
She added: “In the final, the same thing happened coming into the last end, and I tried to do the same thing, but a few of my balls just missed the jack, so I ended up losing 5-3 against the number three player in my division.”
Congratulations young lady you have been consistent in your goal and eventually are benefiting from your hard work. Proud of you!