From Wheelchair Basketball Canada Website.
(Guadalajara, MX) The Canadian Men’s Wheelchair Basketball Team will compete in London at the 2012 Summer Paralympic Games following a 60-42 bronze medal victory over hometown Mexico at the 2011 Parapan American Games.
Patrick Anderson (Fergus, ON) was the game’s high scorer with 27 points and 12 rebounds.
He has been an offensive juggernaut for the Canucks, averaging a tournament leading 22.8 points per game.
David Eng (Montreal, QC) potted the game’s second highest tally with 16 points. He also added 12 rebounds.
“Ultimately, we are satisfied. We will need to do a little bit of soul searching, find out what when wrong yesterday, that will only help us. When you lose a game like that, you can’t focus on the loss. You have to remember how good you are and focus on the next step,” said Anderson.
“We had to feel pressure. It was a must win game. You don’t get a chance to replicate that too often in your career, in secondary tournaments. You do at Paralympics and at other major games, but to have this situation here is priceless, one that I don’t want to have to go through too often,” said Jerry Tonello Team Canada Head Coach.
The bronze medal is Canada’s fourth consecutive podium appearance the Parapan American Games having finished first in 2003 and second in 1999 and 2007.
With the top three men’s teams in the tournament earning a berth into the Paralympics it was a must win for Canada who started the tournament 4-0 before losing a shocker to Colombia in the semi-finals Friday.
USA 69 - CANADA (W) 31 GOLD MEDAL GAME RECAP
The Canadian Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team seized the silver medal at the 2011 Parapan American Games after a 69-31 defeat to rival USA in the championship game. Both teams guaranteed themselves a spot at the London 2012 Paralympic Summer Games courtesy of top three finishes in Guadalajara.
“It’s unfortunate that tonight we didn’t bring our A-game, but I think we are continuing to build and I think we have some pretty aggressive plans for the next year to build toward a gold medal next year in London,” said Team Canada Head Coach Bill Johnson.
“We always said it’s a process and we have been building toward it,” he added.
Cindy Ouellet (Quebec, QC) scored a game leading 17 points for the Canadians, while teammate Janet McLachlan (West Vancouver, BC) tallied 8 points and a team-high 10 rebounds.
Canada concluded the tournament with a 4-1 record and reached the podium for the fourth time in four appearances at the Parapan American Games, following gold medal finishes in 1999 and 2003, and a silver medal in 2007.
“We had lapses on defense and gave them easy looks and that just built their confidence while we found ourselves in a big whole we just couldn’t get out of.
“This tournament was a great opportunity to test ourselves out, to try out some new things, and see where we are, and honestly we are in a good place. This was a great opportunity and we are going to build from here,” said Team Canada athlete Tracey Ferguson.
“We have 10 months of preparation and we are focused, we know excactly what we have to do, and I think these games give us that motivation to play, and to train and to practice that much harder.”
The London 2012 Paralympic Games will be held Aug. 29 to Sept. 9, 2012.
