VANCOUVER – Paul Gauthier of Vancouver has seen a few Grey Cups won at B.C., Place over the years. Now he’d love nothing more than to bring a boccia World Cup title to his hometown this week at the same venue.
Gauthier, the reigning Paralympic champion, is off to a great start posting a 10-0 victory on Saturday over We To of Hong Kong to go 2-0 in round robin play in the BC 3 category.
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.
‘’The game was a lot closer than the score indicates,’’ said Gauthier, who work as a community capacity coordinator with the B.C., Paraplegic Association. ‘’He surprised a little bit more by playing in the centre short but I stuck with my plan and proceeded with the victory. I’m really pleased with my game.’’
Gauthier says there are a lot of challenges to play a tournament of this stature in his hometown.
“Playing at home is awesome it’s just wonderful to have the world come here,’’ he said. ‘’There’s distractions and pressure but I’m prepared for that. There’s been a lot of Grey Cups won here, now it’s our turn to win the World Cup here.’’
Alison Kabush of Surrey, B.C., is also 2-0 in the same category after her 7-0 win over Jari Rummokainen of Finland. Kabush was a medallist at the last Paralympic Games.
‘’It was a terrific game,’’ said Kabush. ‘’It was hard fought match but I stuck to my game plan and it worked out well. My bumping was very good, especially in the fourth round in which I had to bump away balls four times. And my first ball in each round was always right on. I feel I’m on track to win a medal.’’
Monica Martino of Vancouver got to 1-1 winning to Cecilia Turk of Britain.
In BC 2 play, Tammy McLeod of London, Ont., clinched first place in her pool with two wins on Saturday. She defeated Marino Vukusic of Croatia 3-1 and Maurice Toon of New Zealand in extra round play 3-2. Adam Dukovich of Mississauga, Ont., is now 2-1 after a 6-4 victory over Manuel Martin of Spain then a 4-0 loss to Cristina Goncalves of Portugal. Francine Desrochers of Montreal dropped to 0-2 losing to world number-one Javier Curto of Spain 6-4.
In the BC 4 division, Jonathan Poulin of Laval, Que., lost 4-3 to Ladisla Kratrina of the Czech Republic then defeated Keizo Ote of Japan 5-1 in his opening two games. Joshua Vander Vies of Sarnia, Ont., lost his first two matches 5-3 to Jose Pinto of Brazil and 9-0 to Cuifang Qi of China.
In BC 1, Hanif Mawji of Burnaby, B.C., dropped to 1-2 losing 4-0 to David Smith of Britain.
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
