Five Canadian Boccia Athletes Head to Sao Paulo World Boccia Cup
Ottawa, ON (May 30, 2024) – The Sao Paulo World Boccia Cup, beginning this Saturday in Brazil, will see five athletes from Canada competing internationally. It is the second to last competition for the Canadian team, before the Paralympic Games begin at the end of August.
Danik Allard (Bois-des-Filion, QC), Kristyn Collins (St. John’s, NL), and Lance Cryderman (Sudbury, ON) will compete in both the Individual and Team events. Collins (BC2 female), Cryderman (BC1 male) and Allard (BC2 male) are awaiting word if they will receive a bipartite slot for the Games in Paris. They are 12th, 10thand 12th respectively in individual world ranks while 10th in Team. Both Cryderman and Allard are also former Paralympians.
It could be Collins’ first Paralympic experience if she were to take a bipartite slot. The slots are allocated based on a multitude of factors decided by World Boccia and the International Paralympic Committee.
BC3 athlete Joëlle Guérette (Montréal, QC) and BC4 athlete Marco Dispaltro (Montréal, QC) will be competing in the individual event in separate male and female divisions. Guérette sits in 19th in the world in BC3 female, while Dispaltro is 17th in BC4 male. They will not take part in the Pairs portion of the event.
“The BC1 and BC2 Team are just coming off the World Cup in Montréal, which ended in them reaching the semifinals at a world event – a first for a Canadian Team in the last decade. We should be going into the Sao Paulo World Cup with more confidence which will hopefully show in our results,” mentioned Ed Richardson, their coach, Boccia Canada.
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Find out more about the rules of boccia and the Paris qualification factors here.
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
Communications Lead and National Team Coordinator, Boccia Canada
Email: [email protected]
Phone Number: 613-748-1430 x3 | Cell: 514-944-5193