Canada Cup - Day One Report - by Judy Joseph

National Team has great start to Canada Cup –
Germany poses first upset with win over Great Britain

BC Wheelchair Sports Association (BCWSA) is hosting the Canada Cup, an International Pre-Paralympic Wheelchair Rugby Tournament involving National Teams from five countries, at Bonsor Recreation Centre inBurnaby.  Play began today with finals taking place Sunday, June 27, 2004.

Canada, the reigning World Champion, started the tournament off right with a 25-13 win over Canada Ice (the Canadian developmental team) and then scored a 37-36 squeaker over Great Britain who had defeated Canada at a tournament last weekend.  Great Britain suffered an upset loss to Germany earlier in the tournament.

Canadian Head Coach, Joseph Soares, said he didn't have to motivate his team after the upsetting loss last weekend.

"We felt that we had a deeper bench then Great Britain so we played everybody and eventually the fatigue set in on them," said Soares.  "We need to clean some things up in our game and we're just about there."

Top scorer for Canada was BC's Ian Chan (Richmond) while Troye Collins finished with a game high 19 points for Great Britain.

In the last four competitions between the Germany and Great Britain, Germany has come out on the losing end.  But today, Germany pulled out a 26-25 win over Great Britain.

"It was a very hard game for us," said German Head Coach Haiko teNeues.  "But our discipline and tactics were good and we had a good concentration level from all of our players."

Top scorer for Germany in the game was Andre Leonhard with 10 points while Collins was the high scorer for Great Britain with 12 points.

In other games today, the United States had two wins with a 44-33 defeat of Germany and a 50-33 win over Belgium.  Canada Ice suffered two more losses as Belgium won 36-31 and Germany won 27-23.

Play continues tomorrow (Saturday, June 26, 2004) at 9:00 a.m. when Canada takes on Belgium and the United States goes up against Great Britain.  Games continue all day until 5:00 p.m.

BCWSA is a not-for-profit organization devoted to providing opportunities for athletes with physical disabilities.  Since being founded in 1971, the association has worked to provide access to quality programs for athletes with disabilities.  This has always been the focus and continues to be what drives the association.  In partnership with other
Provincial Wheelchair Sports Associations across Canada, BCWSA is dedicated to promoting wheelchair sport and community awareness.

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For more information, contact Gail Hamamoto Doré, Director of Sport Development for BC Wheelchair Sports Association at 604-737-3195, E-mail: ghd@bcwheelchairsports.com

For media inquiries contact Judy Joseph at
250-247-7850 or cell 604-788-5609 or Brian Pound at 604-817-6658 (cell).