Boccia, a sport designed for athletes with a disability, is similar to bocce, and is specially created for people with cerebral palsy and other related neurological conditions. It is one of the three Paralympic sports which do not have any counterpart in the Olympics. And it is one of the events in the 2008 Beijing Summer Paralympics, the 13th edition of the Summer Paralympics, which will take place in September 2008 from 6th to 17th.
The governing body of the sport is the International Boccia Commission, a committee of the Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association (CPISRA). It is a game which can be played individually as well as in groups of two and three. The objective of the game is to throw leather balls as close as possible to a white target ball, or jack. The jack is thrown first, and then each competitor or team takes turns to throw their ball towards the jack. The balls can be manipulated using hands, feet, or an assistive device in special cases. The team or player with the maximum points at the end of play is declared the winner. Individual events comprise of four ends and six balls per player per end and paired competition is four ends and six balls per pair per end. Team events are six ends, and six balls per team per end.
To become eligible to be able to take part in this game, players must be disabled due result of cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, traumatic brain injury or any other neurological condition that has similar effects. Players are closely examined to identify the extent of their disability and then are allotted a sport class so that they can play against other athletes with a similar physical functioning. There are four different classes in which they are classified.
First played at the New York Paralympic games in 1984, it is quite famous now. There are more than 200 internationally ranked players from 29 countries and Portugal and Spain are the dominant countries in this sport. The boccia events in the 2008 Summer Paralympic Games in Beijing will take place from 7th September to 12th September.
Flightshotelstours.com offers online information on Boccia in 2008 Beijing Summer Paralympic Sports.
| 
