Solid play from Canadian BC4s on first day of individual competition at Boccia World Open

Seoul, South Korea (July 22, 2015) – At his first international competition, Iulian Ciobanu, as well as member of CIBC Team Next Alison Levine and World Number One Marco Dispaltro did not disappoint on the first day of individual play at the Boccia World Open in Seoul, Korea. Levine took two wins, Dispaltro won his single game of the day and Ciobanu finished the day with one win and one loss.

Starting strong out the gate, Levine finished her first game with an impressive 19-0 score against Japan’s Nisawa while Dispaltro earned a 12-1 score over Takada, also from Japan. Levine’s next game was a nail biter, the Canadian winning the match against Jang from host country Korea with a score of 3-2 by a margin of .5mm.

Ciobanu struggled in his first match, losing 7-2 to Yuk from Hong Kong. He retaliated with a 5-1 win over Australian La Fontaine. Of the day, Ciobanu says, “another big day. My first match against a titled world champion. In the first end, I took two points but couldn’t come back to win the game; conceding with a score of 7-2. It’s all an experience and I left the court very proud. I went on to win my second game with a score of 5-1. I’m satisfied with my results and am preparing to take on Japan tomorrow for a spot in the quarter finals.”

Coach César Nicolai says, “today was a great day for Canada, five games and four solid wins. The only loss coming to Iulian, in his first international competition, against a titled world champion. Iulian then went on to take his first win on the international stage. Three games tomorrow, one for each player. If they each win, we will see all three in the quarter finals. I am very satisfied with the performance of the Canadian players today, they performed at an elite level.”