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Claire Taggart's hopes of a Paralympics boccia medal were cruelly dashed as she and her Great Britain team-mates suffered an agonising tie-break defeat against Indonesia in the BC1/2 quarter-final on Wednesday.
The Great Britain trio of Larne woman Taggart, Kayleigh Haggo and David Smith fought back from 4-0 down to be on the brink of victory at 7-5 only for the Indonesians to level at 7-7 to force the tie-break, which they won 2-0.
A devastated Taggart blamed herself for not closing out the match in the sixth end as instead the Indonesians took the match into sudden death before clinching victory.
"It was kind of on me to seal the game, finish the game off and obviously I didn’t do that so obviously I’m beyond gutted that I’ve let these guys down so badly," said the 29-year-old county Antrim woman as she spoke alongside Haggo and Smith.
"They are shaking their heads but they know I’m really disappointed in myself and disappointed that I’ve let them down."
An emotional Taggart paid particular tribute to Haggo, who only took up the sport "only two years ago".
Smith said the increasing strength of teams such as Indonesia, China and Korea is only making achieving success "harder and harder" and appealed for "greater investment in boccia at UK level".
"More leagues, more clubs….people playing at a local level to challenge us to push us to give us opportunities to play at home. We have to travel all around the world just to get some decent team games," said Smith.
"If we had some fun, enjoyable matches at home that we could get our teeth into, play with other players, play with able-bodied people, it would make it a lot easier when you are coming here and trying to figure it out."
After trailing 4-0 following the opening two ends, Great Britain reduced the margin to 4-3 and while Indonesia then edged 5-3 ahead, Taggart and her team-mates secured a 4-0 win in end five to move 7-5 up.
But Indonesia, who included Gischa Zayana who beat Taggart in the bronze medal match in the individual competition, ensured the tie-break by winning end six 2-0, before clinching victory by a similar margin.
The Great Britain trio had progressed to the quarter-finals by edging out Portugal 5-4 on Tuesday night after a 13-1 defeat against China in their earlier group match.
Taggart, 29, was competing in her third Paralympics following her appearances at the Rio and Tokyo Games.
The Larne woman has won World Championship and European Championship medals in addition to triumphs at World Cup level but has never secured a Paralympics medal.
Her further sporting involvement includes being accessibility officer at Irish Premiership champions Larne.
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