BC4 pair’s 4th place finish concludes the Coimbra World Boccia Cup
Alison Levine and Iulian Ciobanu plan their next shot
Coimbra, PT (November 15, 2025) – The BC4 pairs competition draws an end to the Coimbra 2025 World Boccia Cup, capping it off with a 4th place finish.
Iulian Ciobanu and Alison Levine once again formed a powerhouse duo, winning two games and losing only one in pool play. The Canadians held both Hungary and Germany to one point and secured the number one spot in their group.
This strong performance pushed them into the semi-finals. This set the scene for a top four match-up against Great Britain – Canada’s BC4 pair is currently ranked 3rd, Great Britain is 4th. It was a hard-fought, close battle, with Canada unfortunately losing 3-4 and moving to the bronze medal match.
The Canadians faced Hungary again in their medal match, in a repeat pairing from pool play. While they started out strong in the first end, winning 3 points, Hungary was able to battle back and force an extra end, where unfortunately they came out on top. This means that the Canadian duo finishes in 4th place in Portugal.
Alison comments, “We’re closing the chapter on a good season and an okay competition here. We have lots of fatigue with three competitions back-to-back, so I was out of gas and unable to rally for the last game, but I’m feeling pretty good. Our objective for the season was to qualify for the World Championships. That’s what we did. The BC4s have seven medals in the competitions we’ve gone to this year, which is more than respectable. I’m happy I came and was able to play with European athletes that I don’t often get to play. We’ve also learned some valuable energy management for future seasons, and we know that next year is going to be a big one with the World Championships.”
Iulian adds, “Our bronze medal match was decided by the extra end. The match against Great Britain was also decided by one point – we were close, but they succeeded. In general, it was a difficult enough competition due to energy management. But we did what we could, and we’re happy with our result just the same. We stayed in the zone, and we know what we have for next year to excel on the podium.”
Head Coach César Nicolai wraps it up well. “Coimbra was a tough competition, as expected. Alison and Iulian performed inconsistently, alternating between very good and not so good throughout the singles and doubles competitions. We are leaving here with two top four finishes and one fifth place.”
He continues, “We gained some valuable insight into our ability to manage back-to-back competitions. As in 2019, we had three events in three months. Thanks to this experience, we know that this is not something we want to repeat in the future. This will be very helpful in planning for the coming year ahead of the World Championships. For me, coaching athletes with muscular dystrophy is a challenge every year. We have to constantly adapt and change our plans from one year to the next as their disability evolves. We had a great year with seven medals in the BC4 category. Now it’s time to rest and get ready for the 2026 season.”
This World Cup brings an end to the national team’s international event calendar. Some of the national team will participate in the 2025 Canadian Boccia Championships this coming week.
The final results and schedule are available here.
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About Boccia Canada
Boccia Canada is the boccia delivery arm of the Canadian Cerebral Palsy Sports Association (CCPSA), the National Sport Organization for the Paralympic sport of boccia. Boccia Canada is focused on providing athletes and individuals of all ages and skill with the chance to play a unique Paralympic sport. We lead, develop and grow boccia from grassroots to producing World Champions, and we collaborate with partners to increase participation of Canadians with physical disabilities in sport.
About Boccia
Boccia is a Paralympic sport of precision and strategy similar to lawn bowling or curling, played by athletes with Cerebral Palsy, Muscular Dystrophy and related disabilities. It is one of only two Paralympic sports that do not have an Olympic counterpart. Athletes compete in one of six sport classes based on their level and type of disability: BC1, BC2, BC3 BC4, BC5, and Open.
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