Weekend wrap: Canada wins two medals at boccia World Cup in Rio

Alison Levine of Montreal and Kristyn Collins of St. John’s earned a silver and bronze medal this past weekend at a boccia World Cup event in Rio.

Levine, a two-time Paralympian, won her two matches in the BC4 preliminaries and defeated 2016 Paralympic champion Michaela Balcova of Slovakia 6-1 in the semis. She lost the final 8-1 to Leidy Chica Chica of Colombia.

“I’m very satisfied with my silver medal here in Rio,” said Levine, who rose to world number-one in 2019. “It was an extremely difficult competition. The hardest of my career for many reasons, but my objective was to finish on the podium.”

In the BC2 bronze medal game, Collins scored four points in the fourth end capitalizing on a longer jack thrown by Slovakia’s Kristina Kudlacova.

“I was beyond excited to win,” said Collins. “I want to thank the team, performance partners, and coaches for believing in me. They told me to never quit or doubt my abilities. I’d also like to thank my mom for being actively involved in my training in Newfoundland as well as my dad who has accompanied me here in Rio.”
Collins is the first Canadian athlete in the BC2 female class to win a medal at a world event.

Mixed doubles wheelchair curling worlds underway 

In Lohja, Finland, the inaugural World Wheelchair Mixed Doubles Curling Championships got underway. Canada’s Marie Wright of Moose Jaw, Sask., and Jamie Anseeuw of Winnipeg posted a victory and two losses over the weekend.

The Canadians defeated Latvia 8-4 in its round robin opener on Saturday before falling to Germany 6-4 and then Slovakia 7-6 on Sunday. Canada is tied for sixth in the B Pool. The Canadians will face USA (1-1) and Norway (3-0) on Monday.

Alberta Roughnecks win national wheelchair rugby title

In Montreal, the Alberta Roughnecks defeated the Ontario Thunder 61-57 on Sunday to win the gold medal at the 2022 National Wheelchair Rugby Championships.

The Roughnecks went undefeated in four games in the preliminary round which included a 60-56 victory over their Ontario rivals on Saturday.

In the bronze medal game, the Ontario Lightning defeated Équipe Québec 51-48.

In division 2 play, Team BC took the title with a 41-38 victory over the Ontario Storm. Quebec B won the bronze defeating the Alberta Bighorns 55-36.