(Ottawa, 2nd October, 2006) After a staging camp in Warm Spring, Georgia, Canada is participating in the 2006 Boccia World Championships in Rio De Janeiro from October 5 to 15th.
The Canadian Team will be lead by double Paralympic medalists and 2006 Canadian Champion, Paul Gauthier, from Vancouver, BC, and Alison Kabush, of Surrey, BC in the BC3 division. (In this division, player use ramps to throw their balls.). They will be joined by Monica Martino, of Vancouver, BC. 2006 Canadian Champion Tammy McLeod, David Van Hoek and Adam Dukovich, of London, ON; and, Hanif Mawji of Burnaby, BC; will be the leaders for the BC1-BC2 team. They will be joined by national team rookie, Nathan Moss, of Victoria, BC. Josh Vander Vies, of Sarnia, ON, and Jonathan Poulin of Montreal, QC will be the Canadian representative in the BC4 category.
“The 2006 World Championships are a great occaision for the
Canadian Team to evaluate their progress at the international level from the preceding 2004 Paralympic Games”, says Head Coach, Mario Delisle. ”The America Cup in 2005 gave us our first opportunity to evaluate our game since the afore mentioned games, and we are content with the progress made by our athletes. The team is still young and we have 5 athletes that were not at the Paralympic Games in Athens, but we believe we will be competitive at the International level”.
This is one of the largest Boccia competitions ever organized ; present are more than 200 athletes from 30 countries : In addition to Canada, some of the other countries that will contend for medals are Portugal, Spain, Hong Kong and New Zealand.
”The objectives are different from one category to the next ; a finish on the podium is possible for the BC3 team, but we are being more sagacious with the BC1, BC2, and BC3 teams, who count for several new recruits : here progression and constancy are certainly what we want with these young people, ” affirms Delisle.
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
