TORONTO – Wheelchair athlete Marco Dispaltro will carry Canada’s flag at Friday’s Parapan American Games opening ceremony.
The Canadian Paralympic Committee introduced the boccia player as the team’s flag-bearer at a news conference in Toronto today.
The resident of St-Jerome, Que., who was born with muscular dystrophy, entered the 2015 season ranked No. 1 in the world in his classification.
Dispaltro, 48, won silver in singles at the 2011 Parapan Am Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, and was a bronze medallist in mixed pairs at the 2012 London Paralympics.
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A former wheelchair rugby player, Dispaltro took up boccia in 2010.
Strategically similar to lawn bowling, boccia is played indoors on a flat, smooth surface. The objective is to throw, kick, or use an assistive device to propel leather balls as close as possible to a white target ball known as the jack.
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