Lima 2019: Looking ahead at Canadian Parapan Am Team action on Day 8

LIMA – With three days remaining at the Lima 2019 Parapan Am Games, Canada is still in contention for more medals. Here’s a look at what’s coming up for the Canadian Parapan Am Team on Day 8: 

•    Canada will compete in the men’s wheelchair basketball semifinals versus Colombia at 10:30 a.m. local time / 11:30 a.m. ET. The Canadians must finish Top 3 to secure a berth in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, and so a win in the semifinals would guarantee them a spot. The two nations have already faced off in Lima, with Canada downing Colombia 64-51 in the first game of the group stage. The team will hope for a similar result on Friday. 

•    In women’s wheelchair basketball action, Canada will be playing for gold versus the USA at 6:45 p.m. local time / 7:45 p.m. ET. The women needed a Top 2 finish to qualify for next year’s Paralympic Games, and with that mission accomplished they can focus on the colour of their medal here in Lima. The game will be a battle between the only two undefeated teams at the tournament. 

•    Canadian Rob Shaw is going for gold in wheelchair tennis. He will face world No. 2 and top seed in Lima, David Wagner of the United States, for the title. Shaw is seeded No. 2 in the tournament and has yet to drop a set through his two matches. In order to claim the gold, he will need to earn his first-ever match win over Wagner who currently holds the 7-0 head-to-head record. Their most recent meeting was in March of this year. 

•    Para taekwondo is making its Parapan Am Games debut here in Lima and will also be contested at the Paralympic Games next year for the first time. Canada has one athlete competing, Anthony Cappello. A world championships silver medallist, Cappello will be a medal hopeful in the men’s K43 61kg weight class. Bouts will be begin in the morning with medals to be awarded in the evening. 

•    Canada’s Para cyclists are hitting the road on Friday for the time trial. Tandem racers Annie Bouchard (pilot Evelyne Gagnon), Carla Shibley (pilot Meghan Lemiski), and Lowell Taylor (pilot Andrew Davidson), and C4 competitor Marie-Claude Molnar will all look to add to the six medals they collectively won at the track a few days ago. Joining them on the road will be hand cyclists Matthew Kinnie, Rico Morneau, and Patrick Desnoyers, and tricyclist Michael Shelter. Races start at 9 a.m. local time. 

•    Nicholas Bennett and Angela Marina, who have two gold and one silver medal each at these Games, will be back in Para swimming action following a day off on Thursday. Bennett will compete in the men’s S14 100m breaststroke while Marina will be racing the women’s S14 100m breaststroke. Tyson MacDonald (one gold, one bronze) will be joining Bennett in the race as well. Myriam Soliman will be right back at it following a podium finish on Thursday. Other swimmers in action will include Arianna Hunsicker, Emma Grace Van Dyk, Jacob Brayshaw, and and Clémence Paré.

•    Preliminary play in boccia continues before heading into the elimination rounds later in the day. All seven Canadians will be in action with one round-robin match to complete in the morning. In the BC4 category (Alison Levine, Iulian Ciobanu, and Marco Dispalto) they must finish in the top two of their group to move to the quarterfinals. BC3s Eric Bussiere, Marylou Martineau, and Philippe Lord and BC1Hanif Mawji will all also look to finish their opening matches strong. 

•    The women’s goalball team will be contesting the semifinals, taking on Brazil for a place in the gold-medal game at 4:15 p.m. local time. Brazil finished second in the group stage, while Canada was third. 

•    Group play in Para badminton will conclude in the morning, with the semifinals running in the evening. Olivia Meier and Pascal Lapointe are currently 2-0 in mixed doubles with Meier 1-1 in the women’s standing category. William Roussy in men’s standing SL3 singles, Yuka Chokyu in women’s wheelchair, Bernard Lapointe and Richard Peter in men’s wheelchair doubles, and Wyatt Lightfoot in men’s short stature singles all also have strong shots at advancing.

HOW TO WATCH
Five sports will be available to livestream in Canada via the CPC Facebook page, CBC Gem streaming service, cbcsports.ca, the CBC Sports app for iOS and Android devices, as well as the Radio-Canada Sports app and radio-canada.ca/sports.

Live Stream Schedule for August 30: 
10 a.m. ET – Para swimming Day 6 preliminaries 
11:30 a.m. ET – Canada vs. Colombia, Wheelchair Basketball, Semifinals (MEN) 
10 a.m. ET – Para badminton, Day 2
4 p.m. ET – Para swimming Day 6 finals  
7:45 p.m. ET – Canada vs. USA, Wheelchair Basketball, Final (WOMEN)