Road to LA 2028 starts in Sao Paulo for Canada’s goalball teams

OTTAWA – Canada’s men’s and women’s goalball teams head south later this week for the Americas Championships set for July 29 to August 5 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The tournament is a qualifier for next year’s IBSA World Championships set for June 6-16, 2026 in Hangzhou, China. The top four in Sao Paulo qualify for those worlds. Though not officially confirmed yet, the worlds in each quadrennial are traditionally a first opportunity to qualify for the Paralympic Games.

The Canadian women’s team enjoyed a strong four-year stretch leading into Paris which included fourth at the 2022 worlds, a stunning gold medal at the 2023 Parapan American Games (which qualified it for Paris), and a fifth place at the Paralympic Games last year. Its result in Paris was its best Paralympic performance since London 2012.

Two players retired after the Paris Games: four-time Paralympian Whitney Bogart of Marathon, Ont. and Brieann Baldock of Edmonton, a member of the 2020 and 2024 Paralympic teams.

They are replaced in Sao Paulo by 17-year-old Cassandra Ruttle of Calgary and Geneviève Hart-Baron of Ottawa. They join five-time Paralympian Amy Burk of Charlottetown, Emma Reinke of St. Thomas, Ont., Maryam Salehizadeh of Vancouver and Meghan Mahon of Calgary.

‘’Having new perspective and new blood is really good for all of us,” Burk told CPC from her home in Ottawa. ‘’We had a great team in Paris, and it was sad to see members go but that’s sports.”

Burk has been impressed with Ruttle and Hart so far. In tune-up tournaments leading up to the Americas, Canada won bronze at the Malmo Cup in Sweden last month and silver at the inaugural Goalball UK International two weeks ago in Guildford, England.

‘’To bring in someone as young as Cassandra at the beginning of a quad will be a huge advantage leading into LA,’’ added Burk. “And Genny brings a lot of experience to the team and it’s been really good for her to get her feet wet in international competition.’’

In the preliminary round, Canada faces Nicaragua July 29 at 10:20 a.m. (all times ET), Argentina at 8 a.m. and Mexico at 3 p.m. on July 30, Venezuela at 11:30 a.m. on July 31, and Guatemala on August 1 at 11:30 a.m.

The quarterfinals are August 2, the semis August 4, and the medal matches August 5.

The other pool is comprised of USA, Panama, Brazil, Chile and Peru.

On the men’s side, Canada has two returnees from the 2023 Parapan Am Games team that won bronze and just missed the cut for Paris 2024.

They are 2016 Paralympian Blair Nesbitt of Edmonton and Mason Smith of Middleton, N.S. Also on the squad are Aron Gebreyohannes of Calgary, 16-year-old Harry Nickerson and Peter Parsons, both of Halifax, and Quebec’s Rakibul Karim.

In the prelims, the Canadian men face Guatemala on July 29 at 12:40 p.m., Mexico at 10:20 a.m. and Nicaragua at 4:10 p.m. on July 30, Venezuela at 11:30 a.m. on July 31, and the U.S. at 4:10 p.m. August 1.

The playoff schedule is the same as the women.

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