Yushae DeSilva-Andrade is now one of the world’s top ten boccia players after a stellar performance this month.

DeSilva-Andrade was ranked 23rd before the Boccia World Championships but a string of stellar performances to make it through to the knockout stages in Rio de Janeiro has propelled her into the world’s top ten for the first time.

That ranking will boost her chances of getting good draws in some of 2023’s biggest tournaments, which include the Para Pan-American Games, with the ultimate aim the Paralympics in France in 2024.

Troy Farnsworth, De-Silva Andrade’s coach, is delighted with her progress and is excited by her progress.

“It’s very exciting and satisfying to see Yushae move up to number ten in the world,” Farnsworth said.

“She’s moved up 13 places and it’s reward for all the work that she has put in to get to that stage and I really see no limit to how far she can climb the rankings.

“What’s encouraging is she has beaten two top-ten players previously and the number one and number two players, who retained their spots, Yushae had really close matches with both those ladies in the World Championships so she is right up there with them as far as skill level goes.

“I guess the key will be doing plenty more hard work and fine-tuning her game to reach her potential. I’m very happy.”

De-Silva Andrade won two of her three group-stage matches in Brazil with her only defeat coming in a tight encounter against the world number one and hometown favourite Andreza Vitoria de Oliveira, who went on to win the bronze medal.

After making it into the knockout stages for the first time at a major championships, DeSilva-Andrade was handed another difficult draw against the player ranked second in the world, Dora Basic of Croatia, but was agonisingly just beaten by a point.