The 2016 Canada Cup for Wheelchair Rugby was held at the Richmond Olympic Oval with seven (7) Countries competing from various parts of the Globe.
This event is the last stop for the Paralympians prior to the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and is a tune-up for their skills for the game.
Those attending saw some incredible Athletes compete as initially it was a “test sport” in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and became officially recognized in 2002 at the Paralympics.
This year’s seven (7) competing Countries participating this year were Canada, United States, Australia, Japan, Great Britain Sweden and Switzerland.
Co-founder for Wheel Chair Rugby Duncan Campbell was in attendance and told Sportswave “It was first invented in Winnipeg in 1977 and is the only Paralympic sport with Canadian Heritage status celebrating it’s 40th anniversary in 2017.
Executive Director of BC Wheelchair Sports in BC Gail Hamamoto was on hand at the opening ceremonies Thursday evening at the Oval as well as Delta’s own Minister of Sport and Disabilities Carla Qualtrough.
She (Carla Qualtrough) presented the event organizers with a cheque worth $50,000.00 from the Federal Government.
Canada entered the tournament ranked #1, followed by second place USA and the battle, er-rivalry was on.
Canada has been ranked at the top of the sport for the past 13 years; which says a lot about how the game.
Canada’s rosters included three (3) Women Players and are Regina’s Miranda Biletski who has been involved in the game since 2005.
The other two Women players are Coral Batey (Great Britain) and Switzerland’s 17 year old Silvana Hegglin (only participated for five months) who looks at elevating her game to the next level.
In an exciting final the USA squad took on Canada to conclude the four day event with Americans coming out on top by a narrow 56-53 win to capture Gold.
Canada managed to capture a 4th place finish, Australia 2nd winning Silver with Japan taking a 3rd place finish to capture Bronze.
Other rankings saw Great Britain finish 5th, Sweden 6th, and Switzerland 7th, but congratulations to all competing teams.
The Richmond Olympic Oval and the PISE located in Victoria are the key teams training facilities for Canada’s wheelchair rugby team.
Games were played Thursday to Sunday with average sized crowds attending and cheering on the competitors.
The key loss for Canada came Saturday evening against Australia dropping a 54-43 decision, but a win would have moved them into medal contention.
In total there were 125 volunteers that helped put this prestigious event on and special “thanks” to the BC wheelchair sports for their assistance during the weekend.
The closing ceremonies and medal presentations concluded Sunday afternoon where Carla Qualtrough addressed the crowd on behalf of the Federal Government.
This was followed John Bishop of the IWRF “International Wheelchair Rugby Foundation and Gail Hamamoto of the BC Wheelchair Sports.
The Honourable Michelle Stilwell was on hand and in her “hay-day” represented Canada at the Sydney 2000 Summer Paralympics winning Gold in wheelchair basketball, represented the BC Liberal Government
Stilwell is the only Canadian female athlete to be a Paralympic champion in two separate summer sports (basketball and athletics) and currently represents the constituents in Parksville-Qualicum on Vancouver Island.
The medals were handed out to the top three teams which saw the United States grab Gold, Australia grabbed Silver and Japan took home Bronze.
All the medals awarded were designed by a local company in Richmond called Fast Performance.
The next event is the Paralympics in Rio best of luck to all the teams heading over there and best wishes from all British Columbians in the Olympics that taking part in the games and take away some fond memories of your stay in Richmond back home with you.
After a 56-53 loss to the USA, Canada finished the 2016 Canada Cup International Wheelchair Rugby Tournament in fourth place.
This is the first time that Team Canada has not won a medal at the Canada Cup in the tournament’s 12-year history.
USA’s perfect record earned it the gold medal. Australia and Japan claimed silver and bronze respectively. Despite the loss, Coach Kevin Orr was proud of his team’s effort.
The Canada Cup International Wheelchair Rugby Tournament was created in 2004 by BC Wheelchair Sports Association to provide elite competition in wheelchair rugby.
Canada Cup takes place biannually and is considered the most prestigious Wheelchair Rugby tournament outside of a World Championship or Paralympic Games.
From 2004 to 2008 the Canada Cup was held in British Columbia and in 2010 Montreal hosted the event.
On another note – 7 of the 12 players on Canada are from BC.
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