A young Pembrokeshire boccia player is to showcase his skills in Greece.

Jacob Thomas has been invited to Athens to take part in an exhibition match with his boccia hero.

Sponsored by Allianz, the event will take place in front of a large crowd and could be aired live on Greek television.

The 17-year-old from Bethesda, who is the current British BC3 Boccia Champion, was invited to Greece by Grigorios Polychronidis - one of the best boccia players in the world.

Since 2006, Grigorios has won a medal at most major events, including a silver at Beijing, and is the current European champion in their classification.

"This is a great honour for Jacob and shows how well he is progressing," said Angela Miles, disability sports officer for Sport Pembrokeshire - Pembrokeshire County Council's sports development arm.

"The exhibition match will be a single one-off event between an established player in world boccia and an emerging player - both with strong ambitions for London," she said.

"At the start of his boccia career, Jacob was asked who he most admired in world boccia and who he wanted to see and play and it was always Grigorios.

"They have played once at the Europa Cup where Grigorios won quite comfortably but this will be a great opportunity for Jacob to learn from his hero, and even go and beat him in his own back yard - although it will not be an easy task."

The match will be played on April 4 and aims to promote boccia and paralympic sport to people with Muscular Dystrophy in Greece.

Jacob has been playing boccia for eight years and is the Welsh and British champion in the BC3 category, as well as a member of the GB elite squad.

He trains between eight and 10 hours a week at Haverfordwest Leisure Centre and takes part in weekend training camps every month with the GB squad.

Last year in his first major championships, he came fourth in the Europa Cup and fifth in the World Cup. Prior to 2011, Britain had no individuals ranked in the top 40 in his classification.

Based on boules, boccia was originally developed for people with cerebral palsy but is now played by people of all abilities and disabilities.