Canadian Parapan Am Team on Day 7: Canada advances to gold medal game in women’s wheelchair basketball

LIMA – The Canadian Parapan Am Team now boasts 36 medals from the Lima 2019 Parapan Am Games following the addition of two bronze medals on Thursday. 

MEDAL CHART:

TOP HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY

Canada’s 61-40 victory over Brazil in the women’s wheelchair basketball semifinals not only means the country will play for gold, but also that it has officially secured a spot at next year’s Paralympic Games. The women needed a Top 2 finish in Lima in order to qualify. Against Brazil, it was a close game through the first half (23-18) but the Canadians turned it on with a dominating third quarter to help them close out the must-win. Arinn Young led the way for Canada with 24 points. In the gold-medal game on Friday, Canada will take on USA.  

“There are so many emotions right now. I’m just thankful we pulled through. That was a really great team win. We just kept working minute by minute and it paid off. We are going to Tokyo.” 
– Arinn Young

“We want that gold medal. That’s what we are fighting for. That’s what we came here for and trained for this summer. Now that we qualified for Tokyo, that next step is the gold medal.” 
– Cindy Ouellet 

Following a protested race a day ago, Canada officially added another bronze medal to its total Thursday morning in the women’s 4x100m medley relay. Canada – featuring Michelle Tovizi, Colleen Cloetta, Arianna Hunsicker, and Krystal Shaw – finished third as the United States was disqualified. For Tovizi and Cloetta, it is their first medals of Lima 2019. 

In Thursday’s races at the pool, Myriam Soliman swam to her first medal at the Games, a bronze medal in the women’s S6 100m backstroke in a personal-best time of 1:44.76. Clemence Pare finished fourth in the women’s S5 50m butterfly, while Caleb Arndt posted a fifth and seventh-place result, in the men’s S13 400m and 50m freestyle. 

“It’s really cool, I wasn’t expecting that but I’m really excited. I don’t know what went so well but it might have been the training I’ve been doing this summer.”
– Myriam Soliman 

Mitch McIntyre just missed the podium in wheelchair tennis, dropping a 6-3, 6-1 decision in the quad singles bronze-medal match. He held tough versus his opponent, Bryan Barten, through the first set before the American was able to take control. McIntyre’s teammate Rob Shaw will compete for the gold medal on Friday. Despite the loss, McIntyre was pleased overall with his Parapan Am Games. 

“I think the facility is great, the crowds are amazing. It’s been really special for me. At the start of the season, I would never have thought I’d be here playing. I had a really good season and I got a wild card to come here and play and I won my first round and got through to the semis, so that was really big for me.”
– Mitch McIntyre 

In goalball, Canada took on the USA in the men’s semifinals for the chance to play in the gold-medal match and earn a ticket to Tokyo 2020, but fell short by a score of 6-4. It was tied 3-3 at the half but two late goals for the Americans were the difference. Canada will now play Brazil for the bronze medal. In women’s action, Canada closed out the round-robin with a 4-3 loss to the Americans and finish third, meaning they will play Brazil in the semifinals on Friday. 

On the first day of competition ever for Para badminton at a Parapan Am Games, a number of Canadian athletes picked up some key preliminary wins. Yuka Chokyu, a three-time Paralympian in wheelchair tennis, earned a victory in women’s WH2 singles action, as did Wyatt Lightfoot in the men’s SS6 classification. On a busy day for 20-year-old Olivia Meier, she went 1-1 in the SU5 singles division and also teamed up with Pascal Lapointe in mixed doubles to post a 2-0 record. William Roussy is 1-1 in men’s SL3 singles play, while in men’s doubles Bernard Lapointe and Richard Peter, a Paralympic champion in wheelchair basketball, posted a 1-1 mark on the day. 

Boccia round-robin play started with Canada competing in 10 games throughout the day. There were some strong performances across the board, with all seven athletes earning at least one win. BC4 Alison Levine made it look easy with an 11-1 win over Colombia’s Leidy Chica, while BC3s Philippe Lord and Eric Bussiere also posted clear-cut victories, by a score of 9-1 and 11-0, respectively. Preliminary play will wrap up on Friday. 

For the complete Canadian Parapan Am Team results on August 29, please CLICK HERE.