(Ottawa, July 23rd 2006) Josh Vander Vies, of London, Ontario and Jonathan Poulin, of Montreal won the gold medal in the Croatian Boccia Open, in the BC4 category with an 8-4 win over a Croatian team during the last day of the games.
This win marks the first international gold medal won by the Canadian pair, and comes only four months before the World Championships taking place in Brazil this October. “I’m very happy with this result”, said Vander Vies. “We are on the right track, we were a little bit shaky in our last game but we were able to come back from that. Now we will go back home, work hard and be more solid for the future”.
The Canadians used this tournament to experiment with some new balls. “The balls really made a difference”, said Poulin. “I’m really proud of our performance, and am especially proud of our win against the Hungarians who are ranked second in the world “.
“It is mission accomplished, Jonathan and Josh progressed game after 
game. Their 3-1 win against Hungary was the highlight of the weekend. They played a near perfect game”, said National Team Head Coach, Mario Delisle. “We now have a long, 24 hour trip back home.” The Canadians will take a 7 hour bus ride to Budapest before boarding a plane to Montreal.
The rest of the Canadian Team (BC1/BC2 and BC3) will participate in the Austrian Boccia Open at the end of July in Vienna, Austria.
Boccia is a paralympic sport open to athletes with cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury, stroke or similar non-progressive conditions. All competitors compete in wheelchairs and some are permitted to use assistive devices (usually a ramp or chute to aid in throwing the ball). Only athletes with a severe disability are eligible to compete in boccia.
The Canadian Cerebral Palsy Sports Association (CCPSA) is an athlete focused national organization administering and governing sport opportunities targeted to athletes with CP and related disabilities. CCPSA and its provincial partners cooperate as a proactive force to facilitate the development of equitable and fair sporting opportunities for our athletes.
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For more information
Dominique Tremblay
CCPSA
(613) 748-1430
(819) 360-6333
Dominique@ccpsa.ca
