Great Britain has won its 30th gold medal of the Tokyo Paralympics after David Smith fought back to retain his boccia title.

The 32-year-old became the Paralympic-specific game’s most successful British player after retaining his individual BC1 title against Malaysia’s Chew Wei Lun.

He said his success had been inspired by his grandfather, Charlie, as he battled back from an early deficit at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre.

“My grandad passed away when I was about 16 and he never got to see all the things I became afterwards,” said Smith.

“I just had a weird feeling when I came out on court that he was there somewhere, that’s what the tears were for.”

“There are a lot of things going on in my head at the moment, becoming the first BC1 to defend a Paralympic title and becoming the most successful British player of all-time,” Smith added.

“You try not to think about it but it does matter, I do care about stuff like that.”

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In boccia, one side has six red balls and the other six blue balls. Similar to bowls, the aim is to get your balls closer to the white target ball, the ‘jack’, than your opponent.

Glory for Smith on Wednesday evening brought Britain’s only gold on day eight of the Paralympics.

Swimmer Rebecca Redfern won silver in the women’s 100m breaststroke-SB13 after she finished just 0.64 seconds behind Germany’s Elena Krawzow.

GB’s men’s table tennis team, Aaron McKibbin, Billy Shilton and Ross Wilson, also won bronze in the class 8 category, and archer Victoria Rumary fired her way to bronze on her debut.

Rumary said: “My coach said I can finally have some chocolate cake tonight after the competition…

“I just want to say thank you very much, to all my family. My mum and dad, who have driven me all over the country to competitions, so I could actually get here, I want to thank them and tell them ‘I love you all’.”

Overnight, cyclist Dame Sarah Storey will be looking to make history and become the country’s most-decorated Paralympian when she performs in the women’s C4-C5 road race.

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