ParalympicsGB’s David Smith wins gold in the men’s boccia final

David Smith is a double individual Paralympic champion after he won an enthralling boccia final in Tokyo – to claim Great Britain’s 30th gold at this Games so far.

The 32-year-old beat Malaysia‘s Chew Wei Lun 4-2 to win his second successive gold medal in the BC1 class of the sport, after triumphing in Rio 2016, sparking tears of joy.

Smith, who sports a distinctive crop of red and blue spiky hair, slipped 2-0 behind following the opening end at Ariake Gymnastics Centre.

David Smith is a double individual Paralympic champion after the Brit won the boccia final

Smith roars with delight after a successful throw during the gold-medal match in Tokyo

Malaysia ‘s Chew Wei Lun (centre left) took a 2-0 lead but could only watch Smith’s fightback

But he levelled with consecutive one-point wins, before being left in tears after edging the decider to claim glory. 

Smith’s previous feats include team gold at Beijing 2008, as well as individual silver and team bronze in London.

The Eastleigh-born player’s success was the latest medal triumph for ParalympicsGB on day eight of the Tokyo Games. 

Earlier, British archer Victoria Rumary won bronze on her Paralympic debut in the W1 women’s individual event in Tokyo.

Victoria Rumary won bronze on her Paralympic debut in the W1 women’s individual event

Having defeated Brazilian Rejane Candida Da Silva and Italy’s Asia Pellizzari earlier on Wednesday, the 33-year-old was denied progression to the gold medal match by a 127-107 loss to Czech Sarka Musilova.

Rumary recovered from that setback to earn the final podium place at Yumenoshima Final Field courtesy of a 131-123 success against American Lia Coryell.

Rumary first took up archery as a 14-year-old, made her international debut six years ago, and came into these games ranked world number one in the W1 category.

There was a second bronze medal for Britain in the table tennis. The men’s class 8 team of Aaron McKibbin, Billy Shilton and Ross Wilson secured it after going down 2-0 in their semi-final against China.