Veterans Francois Bourbonniere, of Montreal, QC, Tammy McLeod of London, On and rookie Keven Smith-Worthylake, Ottawa, ON finished the first day of competition with three straight wins in the BC1/BC2 Team category at the Austrian Boccia Open in Vienna. The finals will be held on Sunday.
Canada opened with a 9-1 win against Poland, followed up with a 17-1 win against Slovenia and ended the day with their closest match, a 5-4 come from behind victory against host Austria. “I had a good day today”, said Francois Bourbonniere. “We communicated very well with each other. That gave us the chance to make a good comeback and steal the victory against Austria”. Bourbonniere is the only athlete on the team that participated in the 2010 CPISRA Boccia World Championships, in Portugal, last June.
Keven Smith-Worthylake really enjoyed his first day at his first international tournament: “I really loved it and I’m excited about tomorrow. We are playing against the Czech Republic and England. They are two very good teams and will give us an interesting challenge”.
National Team Head Coach, Mario Delisle is proud of the performance of his players: “I’m happy with their play today. The team came together very quickly and the athletes have a lot of confidence. The Czech Republic also has also three wins after the first day and will be our opponents tomorrow morning. The winners of this game will most likely come back home with the gold medal around their necks”.
Boccia is a Paralympic sport open to athletes with cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury, stroke or similar conditions. All competitors compete in wheelchairs and some are permitted to use assistive devices (usually a ramp or chute to aid in delivering the ball). Only athletes with a severe disability are eligible to compete in boccia. Boccia is played in singles, team and pairs events. The Austrian Boccia open is a team-only competition.
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.
-30-
For more information
Dominique Tremblay
CCPSA
(613) 748-1430
(819) 360-6333
