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The 2019 BC Boccia Provincial Championships took place this past weekend at  PISE (Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence) located in Victoria, BC. PISE will be the host venue for the 2019 Canadian Boccia Championships taking place November 28th – December 1st.

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15 athletes from across the Province competed in the tournament in both individual and team competition. Athletes classified as BC 1’s (4), BC 2’s (2), and BC 3’s (2) competed in two pools in the Mixed Division for individual competition. Seven athletes competed in two pools in the Open Division for individual competition. Athletes were seeded within their divisions based on their participation and results in the 1st Annual Boccia Western Challenge held in Surrey BC back in April. For team competition, team were formed based on classification and rankings from the individual competition.

MIXED DIVISION: INDIVIDUAL COMPETITON RESULTS

After round robin play in the individual competition, Hanif Mawji (BC1) (Burnaby)  and Paul Jalbert (BC2) (Prince George) sweept their pools with three wins to finish as the first place seeds. BC2 athlete Lisa Ferenc (North Vancouver) and returning BC3 athlete, Chuck Reid (Victoria), both won a pair of games within their pools to advance to the semi finals. Mawji would face Reid and Jalbert would face Ferenc.

After being tied 1-1 at the completion of the second end, Mawji went on to score a single point in the 3rd and 4th end to take the game 3-1 over Reid  and secure his spot in the Gold Medal match. In the BC2 semifinal showdown, Jalbert’s experience shined against rookie Ferenc as he defeated Ferenc 8-0 to advance to the Gold Medal match.

In the Bronze Medal match, Reid started off with a bang scoring 5 points in the first end. Ferenc fought back in the second end holding Reid to 1. Reid’s wrath came back in the 3rd end scoring 6. Reid scored another 3 points in the 4th end to win Bronze 15 – 0 over Ferenc.

In the Gold Medal match,  Mawji scored two in both the 1st and 2nd end to put him ahead 4 – 0. Jalbert was far from giving up and battled back to score 3 in the 3rd end, bringing the margin within one going into the final end. In a nail biting finish, Mawji scored 1 to win the Gold over Jalbert with a final score of 5 – 3. Mawji has now captured Gold at both the Boccia Western Challenge and BC Provincial Championships this year.

OPEN DIVISION: INDIVIDUAL COMPETITION RESULTS

After round robin play in the individual competition, Amber Rainshadow (Victoria) and Ron Blaus (Victoria) seized the first place seeding within their pools to advance to the semi finals. Mildred Thomas (Langley) and Daniel Hutchison (Victoria) secured the second place seeding to move on to the semifinals. Rainshadow would club member Hutchison and Thomas would face Blaus.

Although Rainshadow went undefeated in round robin play, she was no match for Hutchison in the semifinal round falling 8-1. Hutchison was steady scoring 2 in the 1st end, 2 in the 3rd end and 4 in the 4th end to secure his spot in the Gold Medal match. After scoring a single point in both the 1st and 2nd end, Thomas lead Blaus 2-0 heading into the 3rd end. Blaus scored a single point in the 3rd end to bring the match within one. Thomas went on to score 2 points in the final end to finish the match 4 – 1 and advance to the Gold Medal match where she would see Hutchison.

To kick off the tight Bronze medal match, Blaus scored a single point in the 1st end. Rainshadow then went on to score single points for the remainder of the match to win the Bronze Medal with a final score of 3 – 1.

Familiar with each other, Thomas and Hutchison last met at the Boccia Western Challenge in the semifinals where Thomas ended Hutchison’s shot at the gold medal when she defeated him 12 – 2. In a much closer match, Thomas chipped away at points scoring 2 in the 1st end and 1 in both the 2nd and 3rd end to put her ahead 4-0. Hutchison fought back in the final end but fell short scoring 1 for a final score of 4-1 Thomas. Thomas has now won back to back 1st place finishes in the Open Division at both the 2019 Boccia Western Challenge and now the 2019 BC Boccia Provincial Championships.

TEAM COMPETITON RESULTS

Team competition comprised of the results from round robin play. Team 4 included Ron Blaus, Jeremy McMillen (Open) (Victoria), Chuck Reid, and Luke Cambridge (BC1) (Victoria) who took home Bronze. Capturing Silver medals was Team 2: Amber Rainshadow, Tracy Boyd (Open) (Langley), Lisa Ferenc, and Gabe Wadham (BC1) (Victoria).  Going undefeated, Team 3 (Daniel Hutchison, Kylie Waters (Open) (Victoria), and Hanif Mawji) clutched Gold.

Thank You!

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SportAbility would like to thank our volunteers, referees, classifiers, and the PISE staff for all of their hard work this past weekend. We would also like to acknowledge our partners and sponsors at viaSport, the Government of British Columbia, YVR Vancouver International Airport, and Boccia Canada.