Top Boccia players made good starts when they took a lead in their groups as the Boccia competition kicked off at the Beijing Paralympic Games on Sunday.

Joao Paulo Fernandes of Portugal, double gold medallist at the Athens 2004 Paralympics, received three consecutive wins to dominate Group C of Mixed Individual BC1.

The 24-year-old edged Leena Sarela of Finland 4-3 in his opening match and continued his momentum to overcame Zhang Qi of China and Chinese Hong Kong player Leung Mei-yee 6-5 and 5-2 respectively.

After the competition on Sunday, Fernandes showed his ambition to defend his titles in Beijing. "I don't want to talk about it right now, but of course I would like to win them back," he said.

"I was a little nervous, so the beginning was not so good, but it's a good warm-up."

In the Group B of Mixed Individual BC1, world No. 2 David Smith of Britain lost two matches as he fell to last in the group.

"It was a great day. It doesn't matter that I didn't win today's games because I still have many competitions left. I want to win the gold or silver in Beijing. Today's loss won't influence my confidence," the 19-year-old Smith said.

In the Mixed Individual BC2, Kwok Hoi-ying of Chinese Hong Kong, ranked world No.1, earned two wins with obvious advantage in Group A.

"I am pretty satisfied with my performance. I have no magic power or special talent in this sport. The thing brings me to success is practising hard." the 21-year-old Kwok said.

Kwok's strongest rival Fernando Ferreira of Portugal also won two matches in a row with ease in Group B.

The experienced Ferreira would relish a match-up with Kwok. The 37-year-old is the BC2 world No. 2 and is competing at his sixth Paralympics.

In the BC3 classification, world ranked No. 1 Grigorios Polychronidis of Greece swept two victories with outstanding scores, downing Zhu Heqiao of China and Henk Dijkstra of New Zealand 11-1 and 19-0 respectively.

"Boccia is not a game of physical power. It's a game of power of the mind. I calculate the angle every time I throw the ball and it helps the accuracy of my throw," said Polychronidis.

The Boccia competition, which will run through to Sept. 12, attracted 88 players including 62 men and 26 women from 20 countries and regions.

(Xinhua News Agency September 7, 2008)