The best positioned athletes in the world ranking did not disappoint and did justice to their favouritism on day one of the São Paulo 2021 World Boccia Americas Regional Championships, in Brazil.
In the women’s BC1 class, Ailen Flores from Argentina, Sindy Gonzalez from Colombia, Andreza Vitória from Brazil and Lois Martins from Canada, secured their points easily, putting pressure on the Mexican Leilani Ortiz and the Peruvian Evelyn Gonzales for the next day. In the men’s, Mexican Eduardo Reyes, tenth in the world ranking, beat American Wyatt Struxness, earning his point within the group. In the same round, the turnaround in the game between Julian Pineda from Colombia, and the Brazilian José Carlos Chagas de Oliveira, ended in exciting fashion when, in the last throw, the Brazilian scored two points to win the game.
In the female BC2 class all pool A athletes have a win and a loss – Natali de Faria (Brazil), Michele Lynch (USA), Denisse Martin (Mexico) and Joselyn Leon (Ecuador). In pool B, both Kristyn Collins from Canada and Rebeca Duarte from El Salvador defeated Chilean Andrea Guzman, who didn’t score in the round. In the men´s, the disputes promised to be fierce. Victory for Brazilian Maciel Santos, third in the ranking, over Javier Bastias from Chile. Danik Allard from Canada, ranked eighth, easily beat Esteban Montaño from Colombia. Jonathan Aquino from Argentina and the American Marck Harrison had a tough match, with the Argentinean victory. Completing the round in the class, rookie Iuri Tauan from Brazil beat experienced Argentine Luis Cristaldo, sixteenth in the ranking.
With some of the best athletes in the world, the expectation of great games in the fierce BC3 class did not disappoint. The Brazilians Evelyn de Oliveira and Evani Calado defeated their opponents, the American Natalie Chastain and the Mexican Tatiana Amaraz, respectively. Stefania Ferrando from Argentina, defeated her countrywoman Micaela Salvador in the tie-break. María Panca from Peru, and Maria Izaza from Colombia, also won and guaranteed points. In the men’s, Brazilian Mateus Carvalho and Canadian Eric Bussiere have two victories with many points of difference. Dean Acosta from Peru, Raul Rosas from Mexico, Austin Hanson from the USA and Faber Vanegas from Colombia, have one victory each.
Last but not least, in the BC4 class Canadian Alison Levine, number 1 in the world ranking and frank favourite in the competition defeated Leidy Chica Chica from Colombia. Ercileide Laurinda from Brazil also won with the most elastic score of the day, 18-0, against Argentina’s Isis Calderon. Four male athletes have already secured two victories within the group, Eliseu dos Santos (BRA), Iulian Ciobanu (CAN), Euclides Grisales (COL) and Marco Dispaltro (CAN). Duban Cely from Colombia, and Nick Taylor from the United States, also won their matches and have one victory each.
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