British Columbia Athletes Compete in Tightly Contested Matches at the 2022 Boccia Provincials
Former National Team Member, Hanif Mawji, participated in the British Columbia Boccia Provincials for his 32nd time (Photo Credit: SportAbility BC)
Ottawa, ON (November 8, 2022) – The 2022 British Columbia Boccia Provincial Championships were recently held at the Richmond Olympic Oval. Athletes competed in the Individual BC1/BC2 Division and the Individual Open Class Division including newcomer and silver medalist, Suveer Bains (Vancouver, BC).In the Individual BC1/2 Division semifinals, BC1 athlete Hanif Mawji (Burnaby, BC) faced off against BC2 athlete Lisa Ferenc (North Vancouver, BC), while BC1 athlete Chris Halpen (Victoria, BC) faced BC1 athlete Gabriel Wadham (Victoria, BC). Mawji started with the jack in the first end and captured a single point while Ferenc on her own jack countered in the second end scoring one point to tie the match. Mawji led 2-1 going into the fourth and final end, where he scored three to seal the win and advance to the gold medal game with a 5-1 win. A similar back-and-forth took place between Wadham and Halpen. Wadham started with the jack scoring one point in both the first and third ends while Halpen scored one point in the second end. Similar to Mawji, Halpen ended the semifinal match 4-2 by scoring three points in the last end, to advance to the gold medal game against a familiar foe in Mawji.In the bronze medal match, Ferenc took control of the game scoring points in all four ends to win 6-0 and secure the bronze medal. This was Ferenc’s first podium performance at a boccia competition. In the gold medal match, Mawji used the jack ball to his advantage in the first end by taking two points. In the second, Mawji scored on all six balls to take an 8-0 lead. Though Halpen fought hard in the third and fourth end, his second end errors on defence were costly, and the match ended with Mawji taking gold and scoring an 8-3 victory. Making the Open Class Division playoffs proved difficult with the bottom three players eliminated after pool play. In fact, the final spot for playoffs came down to a “points for” scenario. Ultimately, Daniel Hutchinson (Victoria, BC) would face Rene Poirier (Victoria, BC) while Marney Smithies (Delta, BC) would face Bains in the semifinals. Hutchison started out strong scoring three in the first end. Poirier came back in the second end scoring one point to keep the game close. However, Hutchison turned up the heat scoring three in the third end and two in the fourth end to win 8-1 and move on to the gold medal match. Gaining confidence from her round robin play, newcomer Bains handily won her semifinal game with an 11-0 win. In the bronze medal match, Poirier secured third place by scoring a 7-4 win against Smithies. For the gold medal match, Hutchison again started strong scoring four points in the first end and two in the second end to have a comfortable 6-0 lead halfway through the game, making it challenging for Bains to comeback. Hutchison added two final points in the third end to secure the win. Bains scored two in the final end and clinched silver in her first ever boccia competition. All games proved to be tightly contested explained Jade Werger, Sport Development Coordinator, SportAbility BC: “The open division is quite competitive in BC with the tournament truly being up for grabs for anyone. Everyone in that division won at least one game. One of our top Open players Mildred Thomas missed competing for a medal this year as she was just edged out. It goes to show the level of competition and how strong our open athletes are. In the mixed division, we saw vast improvement from our up-and-comers, Lisa Ferenc and Luke Cambridge. Their results against the veteran players in Chris, Hanif, and Gabe have significantly improved.” “I am very happy that my play has improved significantly as demonstrated at Provincials recently,” noted Ferenc. “I have so much more to prove in my game, technically and mentally, and hopefully this success continues for me moving forward.” Ferenc is prepping for the Canadian Championships that she will be competing at in one week: “I’m looking forward to the competition in London Ontario, especially playing with others in the BC2 classification. I must use a multitude of skills in order to be competitive at this competition.” Team BC athletes attended a final training camp on November 5th and 6th in preparation for the 2022 Canadian Boccia Championships beginning a week from today in London, Ontario.
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.
Media Contact
Holly Janna
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