Canada Wins Gold, Silver and Bronze at 2015 BISFed Americas Team and Pairs Championships
Montreal, QC (May 3, 2015) – The third and final day of international competition at the 32nd edition of the BISFed Americas Team and Pairs Championships ended on a high note with a gold medal and qualification for the Paralympic Games for the BC4 Doubles, a silver medal for the BC3 Doubles, and two victories for the BC1/BC2 team.
The BC4s had an emotional victory over their long-time rivals, the Brazilians. After a strong start, with four points in the first set, Alison Levine (Montreal, QC) commented, “I knew we were on the right track after throwing the first throw in the first end. They were able to get their first ball right on the jack. I completely destroyed it – I took their ball out of bounds without even touching the jack. It was obvious that they were shaken up. I set the tone and let them know that we were there to play.” Assistant Coach Cesar Nicolai (Montreal, QC) congratulated Alison Levine and her partner Marco Dispaltro (St-Jerome, QC) for their performance: “They executed their shots and the game plan perfectly! They were able to maintain that level of play over the next 3 ends to put together an incredible performance with a 10-0 win.” This was a very high level performance by the Canadian BC4 athletes. With this gold medal, Canada is assured of participating in the 2016 Paralympic Games. With three more international tournaments to go this season, the group will not back down. The players will be looking to maintain their world ranking and build on their momentum at the 2015 Parapan American Games in Toronto this summer.
The BC3 Pairs team of Paul Gauthier (Vancouver, BC), Eric Bussière (Verchères, QC) and Kevin Shaw (Ottawa, ON) will also be eligible to compete at the Paralympic Games after winning a silver medal in the finals against Brazil. Both Canada and Brazil entered the finals with perfect records. Brazil took an early 4-0 lead, but Canada made up some of the deficit by scoring three points in the third end. Leading by only one point at the beginning of the fourth end, Canada gave it all they had, but conceded two points to finally lose by a score of 5-3. Bussière and Gauthier set themselves apart from the rest by the quality of their play and the effectiveness of their communication which will be watched at the Parapan American Games.
The BC1/BC2 team bounced back very well today after a tough day yesterday and finished the competition with two wins against the USA and Brazil. After beating their American neighbours by a score of 16-0 on the first day of competition, today’s game was much closer, with the Canadians taking a 5-4 lead thanks to a successful pitch from Hanif Mawji (Vancouver, BC) in the last end. The team triumphed in their second game, beating Brazil 6-5.
Today’s Results
BC1/BC2 Team Canada vs USA (5-4)
BC4 Peers Canada vs Brazil (10-0)
BC3 Peers Canada vs Brazil (3-5)
BC1/BC2 Team Canada vs Brazil (6-5)