On October 14 Bocce Australia farewelled the Australia Raffa Team who headed to the 15th International Kemer Open Tournament, followed by the 2024 World Raffa Senior Championships in Turkey.
Coach Franco Fava, along with athletes Diane Penney and Tina D’Urbano, geared up to represent Australia on the world stage. The trio have been diligently training together and it has certainly paid off with athlete Diane Penney securing a silver medal in the Raffa Women’s Precision Throw. We congratulate Diane Penney on a fantastic second place win – and thank you for representing Australia, we are all so very proud of you!
The Raffa Women’s Singles saw Tine D’Urbano’s debut at an international event, and it was nothing short of spectacular. In her first singles match against Croatia, Tina was defeated by only one point. In her second match against Poland, she was defeated by two. Although Tina didn’t win her matches, she provided her opponents with fierce competition and quickly demonstrated her Raffa skills on the world stage.
Diane Penney came in strong, winning her first singles match against Austria 10 to one. In her second match, Diane was competing against the host nation, Turkey, and although she provided an exciting challenge, she was defeated by only one point. However, Diane was successful to progress to the barrage playoff where she faced Austria again. This time, Austria was dominant and defeated Diane 12 to zero.
In the Mixed Raffa Doubles, Franco Fava and Tina D’Urbano came in strong in Round one, defeating Poland eight to one, followed by an intense and nail-biting game against France winning by only one point: four to three. Round two saw our Aussies keep the pressure on Croatia in an exciting game, but in the end Croatia claimed the victory, seven to two. Franco and Tina made it through the Barrage play off (semi-final) against Turkey, which is a great achievement for the duo. Unfortunately, Turkey, on their home soil, proved to be in fine form and defeated our Aussies eight to one.
Stay tuned with live updates on Bocce Australia’s Facebook page as the Australian Bocce Raffa Team participate in the 2024 World Bocce Raffa Championships in Turkey, which commenced on October 23. Congratulations on the great results already from our Aussies in Turkey. Good luck team for the Worlds!