Yushae DeSilva Andrade produced one of the most stunning performances of her career to win gold at the World Boccia Cup in Brazil yesterday.

DeSilva-Andrade beat Satanan Phromsiri 7-5 in the final to claim top spot on the podium after beating world no.1, home favourite Andreza Vitória De Oliveira, 8-3 in the semi-final.

The Bermudian athlete was thrilled to pick up the gold medal in the B1 category after bouncing back from defeat in her opening match of the tournament.

“It felt awesome to win the gold medal,” she said. “When I realised I had won it, I was actually in disbelief, but it was pretty awesome.

Troy Farnsworth, DeSilva-Andrade’s coach, was thrilled with the performance.

“For Yushae to win the gold is awesome,” Farnsworth said.

“To beat the No.1 player in the world in the process was an achievement in itself, but to then hold her own in a tight match in the final was a fantastic effort.”

DeSilva-Andrade took early control of the final, scoring four points in the first end and Farnsworth was pleased that her tactics paid off

“She went four points up in the first end, which really put the pressure on the Thailand lady,” Farnsworth said.

“The plan was to throw the jack long up the court because her opponent struggles a bit with the long game and that paid off.

“Her opponent went short in the second end and picked up two points so it was 4-2 at the halfway stage, but Yushae scored a further three points going long and went into the last end with a five-point cushion and that was enough as her opponent could pick up only three points.”

Farnsworth has been working with DeSilva-Andrade for a number of years and is delighted that their hard work is paying off with medals.

“This has been a work in progress for many years,” he said.

“Last year and this year the results are starting to show. She won two silver medals this year in Montreal and Chile and she has been working very hard to fine-tune her game to get to this next level.

“To win a gold was extremely satisfying and is credit to all the work she has put in. She showed a lot of resilience in this competition as she lost her first match right at the end. To bounce back and go undefeated for the rest of the competition showed great mental toughness.

With celebrations taking place in the immediate aftermath of victory, Farnsworth revealed that DeSilva-Andrade will be in action once more this year as her star continues to rise in the boccia world.

"She was eighth in the world rankings going into this but that is now likely to go up and she’s proved she can match it with the world’s best,“ Farnsworth said.

“The next competition is the Para Pan-Am Games in Chile in November and that will be the final competition of the year as we try to get all-important ranking points to help towards the Paralympics in Paris next year.

“We are not really focused on that right now and we just want to finish the year well and chip away at the world rankings.