By David Gold

Marco Dispaltro_28-02-12February 28 - Canadian boccia star Marco Dispaltro (pictured) has revealed that he is modelling himself on Brazilian Paralympic gold medallist Dirceu Pinto in a bid for equal success at London 2012.

Dispaltro has enjoyed a rapid rise in the sport since taking it up in 2010 and won a silver medal in the BC4 class at last year's World Cup.

Pinto claimed two gold medals at the Beijing 2008 Paralympics, and Dispaltro revealed that he has spent time studying the Brazilian's technique.

"I looked at how he threw the ball and the different strategies that he employed," he said.

"For the first few weeks I started to play the sport, I stood in front of the mirror practicing my swing, mimicking basically what Pinto was doing and then of course when you get more and more familiar with the sport, you develop your own little quirks."

Dispaltro said that his sudden rise has not surprised him at all and he has his sights firmly set on success later this year at London 2012.

"I'm going to the Paralympics not for the experience, but for the challenge of competing and of winning," he said.

"I wasn't that surprised with my results because back home in Canada, I had very good results in different competitions.

"I knew that, with the attitude I was bringing to boccia, players better beware."

The Boccia competition at London 2012 will take place at the ExCeL centre between September 2 and 8.

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