Ottawa, ON (June 4, 2024) – The five Canadian boccia athletes attending the 2024 Sao Paulo World Boccia Cup were not able to secure a medal in individual play, as some go home empty handed while others will fight for redemption in Team BC1/BC2 beginning on Wednesday.

Marco Dispaltro (Montréal, QC) was consistent in BC4 play in Sao Paulo, with two wins and securing his spot in the quarterfinals against Stephen McGuire from Great Britain. The match was a back-and-forth affair with McGuire jumping out to an early 2-1 lead. The first end was indicative of the quality and closeness of the match, including both sides scoring points with balls touching the jack. Dispaltro rebounded with points in the second and third end to take a 3-2 lead. Despite having one ball left to throw in the end, Dispaltro had to play away from the jack, given it was crowded by both players balls and accept giving up one point while taking his chances in a tiebreaker.  In the tiebreaker, McGuire was too strong, taking the match and ending Dispaltro’s run in Sao Paulo.”

“I feel gutted. It’s very disappointing. There’s not many of these opportunities [to compete] so you don’t know if it’s going to be your last. Now I need to look ahead to what the future holds because my next competition would be next year. The plan was to compete in as many competitions possible before the Paralympics, to qualify.”

BC2 athlete and number ten in the world Danik Allard (Bois-des-Filion, QC) beat number six Luis Cristaldo from Argentina in a tiebreaker to advance to the quarters against Maciel Santos from Brazil. Allard and Santos have played against each other numerous times in the playoffs, with Allard yet to beat the world number four player. Santos won the quarterfinal match 8-0.  

Lance Cryderman (Val Caron, ON) narrowly lost against world number two in BC1 action, David Smith, from Great Britain 3-4. He pulled out a 6-4 win versus the number eight in the world, Brazil’s Jose Carlos Chagas De Oliveira, but after another loss, Cryderman could not move on to the knockout stage. Cryderman currently sits in 10^th place in the world, however, changes to the rankings will come once the full competition is over. 

BC2 Kristyn Collins (St John’s, NL) and BC3 Joëlle Guérette (Ste-Sophie, QC) did not advance past the round robin stage, with Collins going 1-2 and Guérette going 0-2 in their pools of the women’s division in their respective class.  

Boccia Canada Head Coach, César Nicolai, summed up the competition as one that “all boiled down to good matches and not so good matches for all our Canadian athletes. We need to work on our consistency if we want to reach the World Cup semis at future competitions. We must find ways to stay in the present and then execute to improve our performances in the future.”

Team BC1/2 of Allard, Cryderman, and Collins have a chance at a medal in the next stage of competition starting this Wednesday, June 5.

Find all current and future results and schedule from the 2024 Sao Paulo World Cup here. The webcast is available for viewing live or rewatching on the Ande YouTube page here.

About Boccia Canada

Boccia Canada is the boccia delivery arm of the Canadian Cerebral Palsy Sports Association (CCPSA), the National Sport Organization for the Paralympic sport of boccia. Boccia Canada is focused on providing athletes and individuals of all ages and skill with the chance to play a unique Paralympic sport. CCPSA leads, develops and grows boccia from grassroots to producing World Champions, and we collaborate with partners to increase participation of Canadians with physical disabilities in sport.

About boccia

Boccia is a Paralympic sport of precision and strategy similar to lawn bowling or curling, played by athletes with Cerebral Palsy, Muscular Dystrophy, and related disabilities. It is one of only two Paralympic sports that do not have an Olympic counterpart. Athletes compete in one of six sport classes based on their level and type of disability: BC1, BC2, BC3, BC4, BC5, and Open. For more information on boccia, visit www.bocciacanada.ca.

Media Contact:

Holly Janna
Email: hjanna@bocciacanada.ca
Phone Number: (514) 944-519