Tokyo 2020 Day 9 Preview: Canadians set for first days of Para canoe and Para badminton competition

TOKYO – The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games schedule on Thursday will see four Canadians make their Paralympic debuts with the first races of Para canoe and opening matches in Para badminton. The pairs event will begin in boccia while action continues in Para athletics, Para swimming and Para cycling. Below is what’s on the docket for the Tokyo 2020 Canadian Paralympic Team on Thursday September 2: 

Para Athletics 
Brent Lakatos’s (Dorval, QC) tireless Tokyo program continues with the wheelchair racer next taking on the men’s T53 800m. This will be his fifth event of the Games of a planned six, and he already has three silver medals. The reigning world champion and world record holder in the 800m distance, his heat will take place at 11:21 a.m. JST / 10:21 p.m. ET (Wednesday night). The final would take place later that day, at 8:03 p.m. JST / 7:03 a.m. ET. 

Jessica Frotten (Whitehorse, YT) will be racing in the women’s T53 400m heats at 12:10 p.m. JST / 11:10 p.m. ET (Wednesday night). And rounding out the Para athletics calendar for the day is Marissa Papaconstantinou (Toronto, ON). After a fifth-place finish in the 200m, she is now set for the women’s T64 100m sprint. Her heat is scheduled for 9:01 p.m. JST / 8:01 a.m. ET. 

Para Swimming 
Thursday marks the penultimate day of Para swimming. Aurélie Rivard (St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC) – already a four-time medallist in Tokyo – is set for her first non-freestyle event of the Games, the women’s 100m backstroke S10. She was fourth in this discipline at Rio 2016 and third at the 2019 world championships. Her heat runs at 10:01 a.m. JST / 9:01 p.m. ET (Wednesday night). 

Angela Marina (Cambridge, ON) is also racing in the 100m backstroke heats, in the women’s S14 category, at 10:16 a.m. JST / 9:16 p.m. ET (Wednesday night). 

In addition, Canada will be lining up for the women’s 4x100m medley relay final at 7:59 p.m. JST / 6:59 a.m. ET, with Danielle Kisser (Delta, BC), Katarina Roxon (Kippens, NL), Morgan Bird (Calgary, AB), and Abi Tripp (Kingston, ON) set to race.  

Para Canoe
Canada’s three Para canoe athletes will hit the water for their first races of the Games. 

Brianna Hennessy (Ottawa, ON), who was introduced to the sport only a year ago and qualified for her first Paralympics this spring, is racing in both the va’a and kayak boats. She is first up in the women’s VL2 200m heats at 9:40 a.m. JST / 8:40 p.m. ET (Wednesday night) followed by the KL1 200m heats at 10:55 a.m. JST / 9:55 p.m. ET (Wednesday night). 

Andrea Nelson (Markham, ON) is set for the women’s KL2 race, with her heat starting at 11 a.m. JST / 10 p.m. ET (Wednesday night). Nelson is the second athlete who attended a Paralympian Search event to make her Paralympic debut, after Charlotte Bolton (Tillsonburg, ON) earlier competed in the shot put and discus in Tokyo. Nelson also participated in the Toronto 2017 edition of Paralympian Search, an event hosted by the Canadian Paralympic Committee to introduce more sport opportunities to people with a disability and discover high-performance potential athletes.

Rounding out Canada’s Para canoe trio is Mathieu St-Pierre (Shawinigan, QC), who like his teammates is also making his first Paralympic appearance. His men’s VL2 heat takes place at 11:10 a.m. JST / 10:10 p.m. ET (Wednesday night). 

Para Badminton 
Olivia Meier (Winnipeg, MB) will officially become the first Canadian to compete in Para badminton at the Paralympic Games when she takes the court for her opening match. She will start by facing Thailand’s Chanida Srinavakul at 11:40 a.m. JST / 10:40 p.m. ET (Wednesday night) in the women’s SL4 group stage. Later that day, her second match will be opposite Norway’s Helle Sofie Sagoey at 6:40 p.m. / 5:40 a.m. ET. Para badminton is a new sport on the Paralympic program this year. 

Boccia 
Canada’s BC4 athletes will be in action as the boccia pairs competition begins. The pairs team of Iulian Ciobanu (Montreal), Marco Dispaltro (Montreal), and Alison Levine (Montreal) will play two matches on Thursday, in Pool A. First, they will face Portugal at 9:30 a.m. JST / 8:30 p.m. ET (Wednesday night) followed by Brazil at 6:05 p.m. JST / 5:05 a.m. ET. 

Ciobanu and Levine both earlier competed in the individual tournament. For Dispaltro, this is his first event of Tokyo 2020 and marks his third Paralympic Games appearance. He was a bronze medallist in this event back at London 2012. 

Para Cycling 
Canada’s Para cycling team will close out its Tokyo 2020 Games on Thursday with the final road races. Keely Shaw (Midale, SK) will start off with the women’s C4-5 road race at 9:30 a.m. JST / 8:30 p.m. ET (Wednesday night) followed by Ross Wilson in the men’s C1-3 event at 9:48 a.m. JST / 8:48 p.m. ET (Wednesday night). 

Marie-Eve Croteau (Quebec City, QC) and Shelley Gautier (Niagara Falls, ON) will close out competition for Canada with the women’s T1-2 road race beginning at 1:05 p.m. JST / 12:05 a.m. ET. 

CLICK HERE for the complete Canadian Paralympic Team schedule on September 2. 

HOW TO WATCH
Livestream and on-demand broadcasts can be found on Paralympic.ca/Tokyo-2020/live-stream-video-demand, cbc.ca/tokyo2020 and Radio-Canada.ca/jeux-paralympiques, the CBC Sports app for iOS and Android devices, the free CBC Gem streaming service, and the Radio-Canada Sports app. 

September 2 Canadian TV Broadcasts: 
Sportsnet One (CBC Late Night Replay) – 7 a.m. ET 
CBC Daytime – 3 p.m. local
CBC Primetime – 7 p.m. local 
CBC Late Night – 12:30 a.m. local 
Radio-Canada Afternoon – 1 p.m. ET  
Radio-Canada Late Night – 11:05 p.m. ET 

Click here for the complete broadcast schedule. Check your local listings for updated schedules.