PARALYMPICS Ireland's Padraic Moran Wins Gold at Boccia World Championships

Ireland's Padraic Moran, won Gold this afternoon in the BC1 Class at the World Championships in Lisbon. The Bray local, sensationally beat home favourite Portugal's Joao Paolo Fernandez by a score of 3:2 in a thrilling final at the Estلdio Universitلrio in Lisbon's University complex to take victory and the Gold medal.

Speaking immediately after the event, an emotional Moran said,"I feel numb just now, I cannot believe it. It has been a lot of hard work since my first international appearance in Rio back in 2006. Hopefully this is just a stepping stone to next years World Cup in Belfast and the Paralympic Games in London, 2012."

Moran got off to a slow start going down 2:0 to Fernandez in the first two ends. Demonstrating extreme composure, Moran levelled the match at 2:2 going into the final end and against a biased home crowd maintained his focus to come out on top 3:2.

Moran, who finished 5th at the Beijing Paralympic Games, finished top of his qualifying pool and a gruelling 8 games in three days later, claimed a semi final place. Moran came through a nail biting semi final this morning against Thailand's Thinnakorn ThePdeang, ultimately winning out in a tie break to set up a mouth watering final against the home favourite.

Team Manager Jacquie Connolly spoke of his success stating: "I am delighted for Padraic. This victory has come at just the right time for Padraic in advance of the London 2012 Paralympic Games. He has come through the ranks, learned his trade and deserves this accolade. He is a deserving World Champion."

This is the end of a long Championship for Moran who earlier in the week led the Irish team to a 4th place finish in the BC1/BC2 combined team competition. Mallow's Johnny Cronin and Tom Leahy from Ballyhooley both had extremely credible World Championship performances also making the knockout stages but were eliminated in the last 16 and last 32 respectively.