Paralympics: NZ finish with 10 medals in Athens

8.00am

New Zealand lifted its medal tally to 10 with a silver in boccia - a game similar to bowls - on the last day of the Paralympics in Greece today.

The New Zealand BC1-2 team of Aucklanders Liam Sanders and Ross Flood, Maurice Toon, of Waikato, and Jeremy Morriss, of Rangiora, secured a silver medal when losing 4-5 to Portugal in the final in Athens.

The BC3 team of Dunedin's Henk Dijkstra and Greig Jackson, of Levin, lost 3-4 to Canada in the bronze medal match.

New Zealand ended the Paralympics with 10 medals, among them six gold and three bronze.

For Flood, today's achievement was a fitting finale to his career, having finished fourth in the team event at the 2000 Paralympics in Sydney.

"Portugal has such a great pool of players, so to lose to them by only one shot is a top effort. We were trying for gold, but silver is pretty good," Flood said.

New Zealand led 2-0 at the completion of the first end, dropped three shots in the second and were lucky to be down only 2-5 at the end of the fourth before picking up a shot in the fifth.

With two bowls left in the sixth and final end, New Zealand needed one to force a playoff and two for victory, but both missed by centimetres.

They had earlier beaten Spain 5-4 in the semifinals.

Meanwhile, the curtailment of the closing ceremony yesterday robbed Auckland's Michael Johnson of the honour of carrying the New Zealand flag.

Because of the death of seven school children on Monday in a road accident on their way to the Olympic Stadium, the entire ceremony was cut back as a mark of respect.

- NZPA