Canadian Parapan Am Team on Day 6: Para swimming and sitting volleyball add seven medals

LIMA – The Canadian Parapan Am Team added seven more medals (one gold, two silver, and four bronze) to its total at the Lima 2019 Parapan Am Games on Wednesday and guaranteed itself one more with a semifinal victory in wheelchair tennis. Canada has now captured 34 medals at these Games. 

MEDAL CHART:

TOP HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY
Canada is guaranteed to win its first-ever wheelchair tennis medal at a multi-sport Games in singles following Rob Shaw’s dominant 40-minute 6-1, 6-0 victory over American Bryan Barten in the quad division semifinals. Shaw is seeded No. 2 in Lima, and his opponent in the final will be top seed David Wagner of the USA. Wagner, the No. 2 player in the world, ousted Canadian Mitch McIntyre in the second semifinal by a score of 6-2, 6-0. This is the first time the quad classification has been included in a Parapan Am Games, and Canada will now be playing for gold and bronze. McIntyre will be in action on Thursday, with Shaw’s final duel taking place Friday. 

“I’m really excited just to be here, representing Canada in a medal match. It’s phenomenal, I don’t think a Canadian has ever won a medal in singles at a multi-sport Games, stand-up or wheelchair, so that’s pretty exciting that we’ll be able to have that on our resume now.”  
– Rob Shaw  

The Canadian men’s and women’s sitting volleyball teams are Parapan Am bronze medallists once again, defending their positions from four years ago. The men defeated Colombia in straight sets to earn the third-place finish, their third straight such result at a Parapan Am Games. The women ousted Peru, in front of a loud local crowd, also by a score of three sets to none to secure their place on the podium. While the bronze medals do not earn them a berth to Tokyo 2020, they will have another opportunity with a last-chance qualifier next spring. 

“It feels amazing, with this being my first international competition there’s lots of excitement and lots of nerves. To be in the bronze medal match and come out on top, it feels awesome. Coming into today’s game, we knew that Colombia was going to fight, and we’ve had a super tight five-set match with them before. They didn’t give up and they played an amazing game, congrats to Colombia. At the end of the day we wanted to come home with bronze and come out on top.”
– Bryce Foster, men’s volleyball team 

“Competing in a bronze-medal match is always exciting for us. We’ve been here before at the Parapan Ams and we’re always stoked to be able to play for a medal. To get a bronze today is so exciting for our country. Of course we wanted that gold-medal match but bronze is great. We knew what we needed to work on and we were able to swing on some things today and work on our tactics. It was a great feeling to be out there. Next for the team is going to be a last chance qualifier for Tokyo 2020, and we’ve got one more opportunity to make it happen. It’s going to be a lot of training and a lot of hard work but hopefully in seven months we’ll get the ticket.”
– Danielle Ellis, women’s volleyball team

It was another successful day for Canada’s Para swimmers, with five medals captured by the country’s NextGen racers. Angela Marina touched the wall first in the women’s S14 100m butterfly for her second gold medal of these Games, while Emma Grace Van Dyk reached the podium for the first time in Lima in the same race, capturing bronze. 

Krystal Shaw continued her streak of silver medals of the Games, this time in the S7 50m freestyle with a time of 40.80. Arianna Hunsicker also notched her third bronze medal of the Games in the women’s S10 50m freestyle, making a strong push in the final 25m for a time of 30.13. Rounding out the medals, Nicholas Bennett won a silver in the men’s S14 100m butterfly, in a Canadian record time of 1:01.58, to add to his burgeoning medal collection that also includes two gold medals. 

“I’d love to go for something higher but any medal is good at this point, just being up on the podium is amazing. I was aiming to break 30 in that race and I didn’t quite make it but I’m almost there – next time hopefully.”
– Arianna Hunsicker

In wheelchair basketball, Canada easily cruised through to the men’s semifinals thanks to a 78-31 triumph over hosts Peru in the round of eight, in a game that was never in doubt. The scoring was led by Deion Green (14 points), Colin Higgins (13) and Blaise Mutware (10) for Canada. They will now face Colombia on Friday for a place in the gold-medal final. 

Canada has advanced into the men’s goalball semifinals with a 6-3 win over Argentina on Wednesday. Blair Nesbitt earned five of the six goals for the Canadians. The women posted a 14-4 win over Mexico to run their record to 3-1 with one round-robin game still remaining. 

In a quiet final night at the Para athletics stadium, Canada’s best finish was Madison Wilson-Walker’s fourth place in the T64 100m race. Alister McQueen was fifth in the men’s F64 javelin and Ben Brown was ninth in the men’s T54 1500m. 

For the complete Canadian Parapan Am Team results on August 28, please CLICK HERE.