Canada Wins Silver on Day Two of the Defi sportif AlterGo Boccia World Open
Montreal, QC (April 27, 2016) – Team Canada had a silver day on the court at the Boccia World Open held as part of the Defi sportif AlterGo.
The BC4 pairs team of Marco Dispaltro (Montreal, QC), Alison Levine (Montreal, QC) and Iulian Ciobanu (Montreal, QC) won their first two matches, against Argentina by a score of 8-1 and then against Japan in the semifinals by a score of 9-0. The serious business began in the gold medal match against Slovakia.
The first end was very close. Dispaltro and Levine put up a strong defense and Dispaltro was able to drop his ball over the Slovakian balls gathered around the jack to tie the game 1-1. Unfortunately, Slovakian captain Samuel Andrejcik was able to break status quo with his last three balls, giving Slovakia a 2-1 lead at the end of the first set.
Undeterred, the Canadians made a strong comeback in the second end, scoring two points to move back ahead 3-2.
The third end was a real showdown, with both teams taking control of the jack on numerous occasions before Slovakia finally took the lead by scoring a point to tie the game.
In the final end, with the gold medal in sight, Canada had a chance to take control of the game, but unfortunately missed an easy shot on an open jack. Slovakia took advantage of this and made the shot, scoring the winning point. BC4 Coach Cesar Nicolai commented on the game, “Overall, Canada played a very close game, which bodes well for Rio this September.”
BC4 pairs captain Marco Dispaltro commented on the pairs silver medal as follows: “I loved the way we played today. I think it’s a sign that great things are to come!”
It was once again Slovakia that dashed the BC1/2 team’s medal hopes in the bronze medal match. The Slovaks had an excellent first set, which gave them an early lead. They never looked back and held a one point lead in the final set. Looking ahead, BC1/2 Coach Ed Richardson said, “While it was frustrating to miss out on a medal opportunity, we were able to finish on a positive note by scoring points in the last end. The team had several rookies this year. This competition gave them the opportunity to learn a lot. I look forward to moving forward with this group of athletes in the future.”
The BC3 pairs team of Paul Gauthier (Vancouver, BC), Eric Bussière (Verchères, QC) and Philippe Lord (Montreal, QC) narrowly missed qualifying for the playoffs after losing their final pool match to a particularly strong French pairs team. The pairs forced the French to fight for every point, making excellent shots in all areas of the court, but failed to score when needed. France was able to take the lead and won the match by a score of 6-0.
Head Coach Mario Delisle concluded the day by saying: “Overall, we played some solid games today and we leave feeling like we made progress. We know where we need to improve and we will be working on those areas over the next few months.”
The individual event at the Boccia World Open held as part of the Defi sportif AlterGo begins tomorrow.