Individual competition in Cali ends with two Canadian medals and lessons learned
Lance Cryderman receiving his silver medal
CALI, CO (October 10, 2025) – Canada concluded the individual competition at the Cali 2025 Americas Regional Championships with two medals, a silver in the BC1 men’s division and a bronze medal in the BC4 women’s category.
Alison Levine (Montreal, QC) won both of her pool matches in the women’s BC4 category to advance to the semi-final. Levine, who has been fighting an illness all week, had to forfeit two matches during the week and went on to the bronze medal match. The Canadian defeated her next opponent, Karla Manuel Enriquez from Mexico to earn the bronze and kick off the medal count.
Levine was pleasantly surprised by her performance. “I’m satisfied and frankly shocked to come home with a medal in individuals. This is the first time in my career that I’ve had to compete while sick, and it was definitely a challenge. I’ve never had to forfeit before, but I know it was the right decision to rest enough to be able to compete for the bronze today. Even after all these years of being an athlete, I’m still experiencing new situations and proving to myself that I can compete even when the odds are stacked against me.”
Lance Cryderman (Val Caron, ON) was the sole Canadian in the men’s BC1 category, finishing second in his pool and advancing to the semi-finals. He emerged victorious, then moved onto face the opponent José Carlos Chagas from Brazil in the final who delivered his sole round robin loss. After four ends of competition, Cryderman came away with the silver medal, with a score of 1-4. The turning point in that match happened in the third end on the opponent’s jack when the Peruvian player had come up strong in the first time. Cryderman continued to battle and scored 3 of his own on the jack and kept the lead. In the fourth, he pulled off a placement of one ball to secure the win, and although he came close to trying to push it away, he was not successful.
Cryderman reflected on his silver medal journey, “There are many things to be proud of in this individual competition. The highlight for me was probably another come from behind victory in the semifinal… Another gold medal match did not go the way I would like, I felt as though I had opportunities throughout that match and with a few subtle changes, the outcome could’ve been a lot different Overall I am very happy. This is the strongest performance of the year for me.”
Kristyn Collins (St. John’s, NL) and Liza Puri (London, ON) competed in the same pool in the women’s BC2 category, finishing 4th and 5th respectively after facing each other in their first match. Olivier Roy (Quebec City, QC) faced two top 20-ranked opponents in the preliminary rounds. It was a similar story for Iulian Ciobanu and Marco Dispaltro (both from Montreal, QC). Both had difficult competitors in their BC4 pools. Neither the BC4 men or Roy advanced.
Roy is excited to take his learnings and move forward. “As I am a beginner, I mainly wanted to learn and observe the other players. This competition motivated me to continue training and participate in other tournaments.”
Dispaltro is not letting adversity get him home. “Boccia is truly a millimeter game. If that precision is a little off, you pay the price. It’s a beautiful game, but it can break your heart. Still, I’m chasing that perfect wave, like the one from a few years ago, when everything aligned and I ran the table. I know I still have that in me.”
In the men’s BC2 category, Danik Allard (Bois-des-Filion, QC) earned the top spot in his pool and moved to the playoffs. His semi-final match was incredibly tight, forcing a tie-breaker end, where unfortunately Mario Sayes from El Salvador came out on top with a score of 3-4. Allard could not regroup in the bronze medal match against Maciel Santos from Brazil, finishing fourth with a score of 0-12.
Allard still pulled some learnings from the event. “My competition started well, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough. However, I learned a lot during this competition and I know that every time I learn something new, I get better. Even though I finished fourth, I know I could have done better, but I’ll be ready to compete as part of a team.”
Head Coach Cesar Nicolai is impressed by the calibre of the athletes’ performances. “This individual competition was full of challenges for the Canadian team! The level of play has improved greatly in America. I am extremely proud of the performances of Alison and Lance, who finished on the podium. Danik had a great competition. He lost his semi-final in an extremely close match in overtime to reach the final and finished fourth. Olivier and Liza, who are still in the early stages of discovering the international level, showed some very promising things which are encouraging for the future. Now it’s time for the team and doubles competitions.”
Collins, Cryderman, and Allard will now compete in the BC1/2 team event, while Ciobanu and Levine will pair up for the BC4 doubles competition.
The full schedule and complete results are available here; matches on Court 1 will be streamed on the Federación Colombiana de Boccia’s YouTube page here.
Follow Boccia Canada on Facebook here for all relevant information and news.
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. CCPSA leads, develops and grows 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. For more information on boccia, visit www.bocciacanada.ca.
Media Contact
Zoe Meil-Charbonneau
Interim Program Coordinator
[email protected]