Fergus native Patrick Anderson is joining Team Canada for the upcoming Americas Cup qualifier.
On Aug. 17, Wheelchair Basketball Canada announced the athletes selected to represent Canada in 2017 as members of the Senior Men’s and Women’s National Wheelchair Basketball teams.
The Canadian teams are set to compete at the Americas Cup qualifier from Aug. 23 to 30, in Cali, Colombia. Both teams are seeking a top four finish in Cali to secure a berth in the world championships taking place in Hamburg, Germany in 2018.
“We started a process to prepare for the qualifier and everything is going as expected,” said senior men’s national team head coach Matteo Feriani.
“We are building new chemistry within the team as we have some new additions this year. We will arrive in Colombia with new ideas and with confidence. We want to enjoy the tournament and ourselves and look forward to the competition.”
Senior women’s national team head coach Marc Antoine Ducharme said, This is a new era for this team and we are building a solid group for the coming year.
“Several good players have retired following Rio but the curve of our progression will continue to go up. Team chemistry is very important in basketball and our team is united and ready to perform at its best during big games.”
The rosters feature 12 returning players who represented Team Canada at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.
On the men’s side, officials say the return of Anderson, an all-time great in the sport, rounds out a solid core of veterans, including co-captains David Eng and Bo Hedges, and fellow Paralympic gold medallist Tyler Miller. Paralympians Nik Goncin and Jonathan Vermette also return.
Canada welcomes four rookies to the team in Adel Akhmed, Alex Hayward, Colin Higgins and Garrett Ostepchuk.
Veteran Cindy Ouellet leads the cast of returning players on the women’s side, which includes fellow Paralympians Erica Gavel, Melanie Hawtin, Rosalie Lalonde, Tamara Steeves and Arinn Young.
With several retirements following Rio 2016, Canada also welcomes a group of new faces into the fold in Sara Black, Helaina Cyr, Kady Dandeneau and Élodie Tessier.
Both teams are centralized at the Wheelchair Basketball Canada National Training Centre in Scarborough as they make final preparations for the Americas Cup qualifier.
