Medals on all fronts for the Canadian boccia squad in BC3 and BC4 pair, and BC1/BC2 Team Play

Toronto, ON (August 8, 2015) – An exciting day for the Canadian boccia squad who struck gold in the BC3 pair division while scoring a silver in BC4 pair play and a bronze in the BC1/BC2 team category.

 The BC3s, made up of Éric Bussière (Montréal, QC), Paul Gauthier (Vancouver, BC) and Bruno Garneau (Montreal, QC) dominated, winning all three of their matches against Argentina, Colombia and Brazil respectively. The final game was a nail biter with Brazil pulling through in the fourth end to take the match into overtime. It wasn’t enough, Canada prevailing with a score of 6-5. Of the day, Gauthier says “I’m excited to be here – it’s awesome to once again here the national anthem on home turf. We had a great day, strong teamwork, cooperation and good decision making on the court. Individual play begins tomorrow – bring it on.”

The BC4s, composed of Team Canada’s flag bearer Marco Dispaltro (St.Jérome, QC), member of CIBC Team Next Alison Levine (Montréal, QC) and Caroline Vietnieks (Burnaby, BC) fell short of the gold medal with an overtime loss to Brazil in their third and final match. Dispaltro conceded, “a strong day, two wins in our initial two matches but a disappointing loss to Brazil in our third game. It’s too bad the BC4s won’t have the chance to hear our national anthem on the podium today but I look forward to giving my all tomorrow.”

The BC1/BC2 Team, led by Adam Dukovich (Ottawa, ON) alongside Tammy McLeod (London, ON), Chris Halpen (Victoria, BC) and Hanif Mawji (Vancouver, BC) garnered a bronze medal. Captain Dukovich stated, “we had our ups and downs today. We struggled in the first match, but came back for a win in the second – with great play from my teammate Chris Halpen – and a win in overtime in the third. I’m very happy about this last game in particular – my performance was strong and I really feel as though we showed the world, and ourselves, what we’re made of”.