{"id":17619,"date":"2026-05-27T08:47:54","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T12:47:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bocciacanada.ca\/?post_type=news&#038;p=17619"},"modified":"2026-05-27T08:47:54","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T12:47:54","slug":"canadian-bc4-athletes-prepare-for-international-test-in-astana","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/bocciacanada.ca\/en\/news\/article\/canadian-bc4-athletes-prepare-for-international-test-in-astana\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian BC4 athletes prepare for international test in Astana"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Iulian Ciobanu and Alison Levine on court<br \/>\n<\/em><em>Photo credit: Antoine Saito, D\u00e9fi Sportif AlterGo<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>OTTAWA, ON (May 26, 2026)<\/strong> &#8211; Boccia Canada is excited to announce the two athletes who will be competing at the Astana 2026 World Boccia Cup, from June 1 to 8. This event marks the first overseas event of the year for the national team.<\/p>\n<p>The athletes competing in Astana are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>BC4 Men: Iulian Ciobanu (Montr\u00e9al, QC)<\/li>\n<li>BC4 Women: Alison Levine (Montr\u00e9al, QC)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The staff accompanying the team in Astana are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Head Coach C\u00e9sar Nicola\u00ef<\/li>\n<li>Emilian-Sorin Susan, Performance Partner<\/li>\n<li>Shannon McGarr, Performance Partner<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Levine and Ciobanu will each play in the individual event, then join forces for the BC4 pairs event.<\/p>\n<p>The Astana World Cup will give the Canadian duo another opportunity to test themselves against an international field ahead of the 2026 World Championships in Seoul. Several top competitors expected in Astana are also likely to appear in Korea in August, making the event an important step in the team\u2019s preparation.<\/p>\n<p>Levine is looking forward to bouncing back from the last World Cup, \u201cI\u2019m excited to be going to the first ever World Cup in Kazakhstan knowing they had a lot of success last year with their Challenger. Going to a competition so soon after one that did not go our way is potentially a stressful situation, but Iulian and I were able to regroup very quickly, fix some things, and have been playing very well together and as individuals these past few weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mario Delisle, High Performance Director, adds \u201cThis is a first for Canada in this part of the world, and Alison and Iulian are ready to bounce back after a challenging first World Cup in Montreal in April. Training in May was adjusted, and both athletes have regained the execution and confidence needed for a better performance in Astana. They are motivated by this competition, which will give them a better idea of the level of play to expect at the 2026 World Championships in August.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Event Schedule<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>June 2 \u2013 Arrivals, equipment check, opening ceremony<br \/>\nJune 3-6 \u2013 Individual competition<br \/>\nJune 6-8 \u2013 Pairs competition<\/p>\n<p>Follow Boccia Canada on Facebook <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BocciaCanada\/\">here<\/a> for all relevant information and news.<\/p>\n<p><strong>About Boccia Canada<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p><strong>About boccia<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">-30-<\/p>\n<p><strong>Media Contact<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Zoe Meil-Charbonneau<br \/>\nNational Program Coordinator<br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:zmeil@bocciacanada.ca\">zmeil@bocciacanada.ca<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Iulian Ciobanu and Alison Levine on court Photo credit: Antoine Saito, D\u00e9fi Sportif AlterGo OTTAWA, ON (May 26, 2026) &#8211; Boccia Canada is excited to announce the two athletes who will be competing at the Astana 2026 World Boccia Cup, from June 1 to 8. This event marks the first overseas event of the year&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17620,"menu_order":0,"template":"","news_category":[],"class_list":["post-17619","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Canadian BC4 athletes prepare for international test in Astana - Boccia Canada<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bocciacanada.ca\/en\/news\/article\/canadian-bc4-athletes-prepare-for-international-test-in-astana\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Canadian BC4 athletes prepare for international test in Astana - Boccia Canada\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Iulian Ciobanu and Alison Levine on court Photo credit: Antoine Saito, D\u00e9fi Sportif AlterGo OTTAWA, ON (May 26, 2026) &#8211; Boccia Canada is excited to announce the two athletes who will be competing at the Astana 2026 World Boccia Cup, from June 1 to 8. 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