Boccia star Claire Taggart 'keeps on learning' ahead of the Paris Paralympic Games

Competing only in the Team event at the Povoa World Cup in Portugal - having used her allocation of individual tournaments - she finished fifth with teammates David Smith OBE and Kayleigh Haggo.

Commenting on social media, Claire said: “Some may see this as a disappointing result but I see it as a learning experience. Losing to the Netherlands in the pool stages meant we had a playoff game against current Paralympic Champions, Thailand.

“We haven’t played them since the Tokyo Paralympics and our improvement and development since then has been enormous.”

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Great Britain were neck and neck with Thailand, going into the final end 4-3 to Thailand. While GB were in a position to get ahead, they lost 7-3.

“We will learn more from our losses than our wins, and this is all just a stepping stone towards Paris. Our team is full of potential and we’re excited to compete against the best in the world next year,” Claire added.

The World Champion from Larne can now look forward to a break from competition before she competes at the UK Championships in Warwick next month.

France is due to host its first ever Summer Paralympic Games next year, from August 28 - September 8.

The biggest sporting event ever organised in France, it will bring together 4,400 of the world’s most outstanding Paralympic athletes.