It was a difficult first day of competition in the team and pair events for the Canadian Boccia team at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games, with no wins after 4 attempts.
In the BC1 / BC2 category, Canadian teammates Adam Dukovich and Tammy McLeod (both of London, ON) and Brock Richardson (Brampton, ON) and Hanf Mawji (Surrey, BC) gave the number one team in the world, Great Britain, a run for their money. Canada took a 6-3 lead going into the last end but opened the doors to its opponent who scored 3 in the last end with Great Britain winning the match 7-6 in overtime. One hour later, the Canadians faced Argentina and could not build on their good play, losing 6-2. The Canadians are now officially eliminated and will conclude the competition in ninth place.
Paul Gauthier and Monica Martino (both of Vancouver) and Alison Kabush (Surrey, BC) were plagued by problems in the BC3 pair category, losing 9-1 against Spain and South Korea respectively. “I’m disappointed in our performance in the BC3 pairs. This team is much better then what they showed today and it was bad timing to have an off day”, said National Team Coach, Mario Delisle. “The quality of our opponent is very high, having problems with our draws and our take-out caused a lot of issues at this level”.
Even with all their struggles, there is still hope for Gauthier, Kabush and Martino. If the Canadians beat China by a margin of 14 points and Spain lose by 4, Canada will advance to the semi-finals. Their next competion is schedule for 10h30 am time of Beijing.
