Steve Wilson enjoyed a moment to savour after clinching gold at the Buenos Aires Regional Open in Argentina.

Wilson was one of three Bermudian boccia players competing, alongside Yushae DeSilva-Andrade and Omar Hayward, as the trio battle it out against the sport’s leading players from North, Central and South America.

Featuring in the Individual BC4 category, Wilson sailed through pool A, overcoming the Argentinians Ivan Costa 13-0 and Khalil Profiti 4-1 before defeating Tomas Márquez, of Mexico, 3-2 to seal his place in the elimination rounds.

Building on the foundation of his impressive progression, Wilson continued that momentum, overcoming Kevin Stokes, of the United States, 4-2 in the quarter-finals, before breezing past another American competitor, Henry Sawyer, in a dominant 5-0 victory, to take him to the verge of glory in the showpiece final.

There, Profiti was waiting in what was a repeat of their pool encounter. Just as he had done previously, the Bermudian proved too strong for his Argentine counterpart, once again winning 4-1, to clinch gold and arguably more importantly, valuable points in his quest to qualify for the Parapan American Games in Lima in 2019 and Paralympic Games in Tokyo in 2020.

Meanwhile, compatriots Hayward and Andrade faced off against one another after both had been drawn in pool B of the Individual BC1 category.

It was Hayward who came out on top of the all-Bermudian battle, winning a close-fought encounter 3-2 to add to his earlier 8-0 victory over Argentina’s Ailen Flores.

However, Hayward narrowly missed the opportunity to fight it out for a medal after a 6-1 defeat by Eduardo Ventura, of Mexico, resulted in him failing to progress into the elimination rounds. He was forced to settle for a fifth-place finish overall.

As well as the 3-2 defeat by Hayward, Andrade was also narrowly beaten 5-4 by Ventura, but regained some pride with an emphatic 4-1 success over Flores. Andrade finished seventh in the final standings.