VANCOUVER – It was memorable start to the boccia World Cup for 16-year-old Brock Richardson of Brampton, Ont., on Friday at B.C. Place. He nearly won his first match representing Team Canada and played against the number-one player in the world in his second as round robin play got underway.
Boccia is a sport similar to lawn bowls and played by athletes with cerebral palsy. This year’s World Cup is also a qualifying tournament for the 2008 Paralympic Games.
Richardson competing in the BC1 category opened his tournament with a nailbiting 5-4 loss to Padraic Moran of Ireland. Richardson built a 4-0 lead in the match but his inexperience caught him in the end. He lost his second match to world number-one Paolo Fernandez of Portugal.
‘’The match against Paolo was a lot closer than the score indicated,’’ said Richardson, who started playing boccia at age 11. ‘’Against Adraic, I just got too ahead of myself. But I guess that’s the way it goes. Overall I was happy with my day. It was really exciting.’’
Hanif Mawji of Burnaby, B.C., fourth at the world championships last year, lost his opening match 3-2 to China’s Yi Wong Wang but cameback to defeat Jose Carlos Oliveira of Brazil 6-3.
In the BC2 category, Adam Dukovich of Mississauga, Ont., and Tammy McLeod of London, Ont., won their opening matches. Dukovich defeated Daesun Yoon of South Korea 4-3 while McLeod beat Judith Bulphuis of the Netherlands 15-0.
Francine Desrochers of Montreal lost her opening match 8-0 to Risa Kainuma of Japan.
In the BC 3 category, Paralympic champion Paul Gauthier of Vancouver won 14-0 over Leann Lovemeyer in his opener while Alison Kabush of Surrey took Caroline Sahy of Ireland 5-1.
The individual tournament continues through to Tuesday followed by the pairs and team competition which run until May 19.
For more information
Dominique Tremblay
CCPSA
(819) 360-6333
Dominique@ccpsa.ca
