September 24, 2010
Canada Comes Full Circle To Face Off Against Commonwealth Rival Great Britain in the Final Day of the 2010 World Wheelchair Rugby Championships Game takes place at the Richmond Oval at 11 a.m. on Sunday 26th September and will be followed by the championship final between Australia and USA at 3 p.m.
Richmond, BC Tournament organizers at the 2010 World Wheelchair Rugby Championships are expecting another sold out crowd as Commonwealth rivals Canada and Great Britain square off on the final day of competition. The teams, who met in the first match of the tournament, will come full circle in a battle for 5th place at 11 a.m. Sunday morning at the Richmond Olympic Oval.
Though it's not the game they hoped to be in, Canada will play the British
squad after a heartbreaking last-second loss to the USA knocked them out of medal contention. When they last met on Tuesday, Canada triumphed over Great Britain 48 to 41. The British have regrouped after struggling earlier in the tournament, and as host nation for the London 2012 Paralympic Games will be planning to establish themselves as a medal contender by giving Canada a run for their money.
"Tomorrow¹s game with Great Britain is to be taken very seriously," said
Canadian player Mike Whitehead. "We¹re all leading up to 2012 so we all have pressure. Tomorrow is a very, very important game."
Canada will be counting on a hometown crowd to get them through a difficult game. "To play in front of a home crowd at Worlds I will cherish the moment for the rest of my life," he said. "There's been so much love and support. It's been electric."
The gold-medal game of the 2010 World Wheelchair Rugby Championships will take place at 3 pm tomorrow at the Richmond Olympic Oval and will feature the powerhouse squads of USA and Australia. Though the USA are the defending gold medallists, Australia handed them their first defeat in two years this June in a test series in Alabama.
"We¹ve got one game left and it¹s one of the games we¹ve focused on since the very beginning," said American athlete Derrick Helton. "We¹ll just stick with the game plan we have been working with for the last six months to a year."
Australian Head Coach Brad Dubberley said that his team is also prepared. "We¹re here to win and I¹m really confident that we can close this deal," he said.
Japan and Sweden will compete in the bronze medal game. This is the first time in the sport's history that either team has been in a medal game in a major international tournament and fans can expect some speedy, hard-hitting wheelchair rugby action. Play continues Saturday at the Richmond Olympic Oval at 10:00 a.m. with Canada playing Poland at noon in a game that will decide the cross over for 5th and 6th. Semi-finals begin at 2:00 p.m. All games can be watched at www.sportscanada.tv <http://www.sportscanada.tv> .Photographs of today's games are available at http://www.2010wwrc.com/media/media-kit. Please credit BC Wheelchair Sports Association (BCWSA)/Kevin Bogetti-Smith.
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About wheelchair rugby
Wheelchair rugby is a team sport for male and female quadriplegics. The
physically demanding full-contact team sport is played indoors on a hardwood basketball court between two teams of four players. It is a unique sport that combines some elements of basketball, handball, and ice hockey, and was created in Canada in1977 by a group of athletes with a disability in Manitoba.
About the 2010 World Wheelchair Rugby Championships
The 2010 World Wheelchair Rugby Championships are taking place at the Richmond Olympic Oval from September 21-26. The tournament will feature teams from 12 countries, including Canada (2002 World Champions), New Zealand (2004 Paralympic Champions), USA (2008 Paralympic Champions) and Australia (2010 Coupe Canada Cup holders). Also competing are Japan, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Great Britain, Poland, Finland and Argentina.
For the full competition schedule, visit www.2010wwrc.com
<http://www.2010wwrc.com> . Tickets will be available at the door. You can also follow the tournament on Twitter: @2010wwrc, Facebook "2010 World Wheelchair Rugby Championships," and at www.sportscanada.tv <http://www.sportscanada.tv> , where games and athlete interviews will be webcast live.
Media Contacts
Anna Parisi 604-828-2875 aparisi@telus.net
Mital Shamji 778.919.5975 mital.shamji@gmail.com
FLASH QUOTES
September 25, 2010
NZL 52 FIN 51
New Zealand Team player Dan Buckingham (#13):
It came down to the wire. It¹s pretty hard to get up for games like this.
We watched the game with the US and Canada last night and that¹s the games we used to be in.
We¹re looking to the future now. This tournament has been a big kick up the backside to go to London and redeem ourselves. There¹s a lot of talk of that. We've got some really exciting young players coming up.
It¹s a bittersweet feeling. But in the gut it hurts.
Finland Team player Mauri Vironmaki (#9):
It was a fun and tough game. It was the first time we¹ve played New
Zealand.
They played hard and so did we.
We had many tough games here at this tournament and we have learned a lot.
GER 64 ARG 13
Germany Team player Nacer Menezia (#13):
We approached this as a normal game. Everyone has a job to do and we went with our normal lines.
Argentina Team player Martin Arregui (#1):
We tried to adjust the mistakes we¹ve made in our previous games. We are just learning, so we are doing the best we can.
We have learned a lot because we don¹t have much competition in Argentina because there are no countries close to us, only Brazil. This is a great opportunity for us to learn and we are taking advantage of this.
It is the best goal for our country to come to a World Cup and to learn and then to go back to our country and develop players and increase our
competence.
CAN 60 POL 38
Canada Team player Mike Whitehead (#8):
After last night¹s loss in the dressing room it was quiet but there was a
definite sense of pride. Really a lot of mixed emotions. We all support
each other. Regardless of a loss or a win we all take care of each other.
The coach is just a wonderful man and motivating and this morning he put us in our place quickly. It really made me concentrate and get back on task. He¹s doing a great job, and so is the support of CWSA and Own the Podium. We¹re very lucky.
To play in front of a home crowd at Worlds I will cherish the moment for the rest of my life. There was so much love and support. It was electric.
Just some of the random things we heard in the crowd, like Oif you can¹t do it nobody can. It was really exciting and a really proud moment for the sport.
Tomorrow's game with Great Britain is to be taken very seriously. We're all leading up to 2012 so we all have pressure. Tomorrow is a very, very
important game.
Poland Team player Krzysztof Kapusta (#3):
We saw the game with Canada last night and so we wanted to win the game today. Canada has more pressure because they lost their position in the tournament now, and we are coming from the bottom up. We wanted to show them we can play.
GBR 54 BEL 39
Great Britain Team player Steve Palmer (#3):
Lars Mertens is a very dominant player. We made a point of shutting him
down. At times we were putting three players on him to keep him out of the game. At the moment he is the tournament¹s top scorer so obviously the major threat was him. Once we closed him down and tired him out the game got easier and easier for us. We've just got to work on executing better when we play Canada tomorrow.
Belgium Team player Frederic Windey (#10):
It was a very hard game.
I don¹t know the score. I was just pushing.
We had several plans but they were too good for us. They have a very good bench.
USA 54 JPN 45
USA Team player Derrick Helton (#13):
There was no doubt that we would be in this position. But there was always Canada. It doesn¹t matter how strong they are or how weak they look, both teams just go at it. One team will be weak and the other team will be strong and vice versa. Rivalries bring the best out in everybody. They were a speed bump.
Japan started out pretty strong but once we got our rhythm we were fine.
Australia is the very big speed bump. We¹ve got one game left and it¹s one of the games we¹ve focused on since the very beginning. We¹ll just stick with the game plan we been working with the last six months to a year.
Japan Team player Koutarou Kishi (#15):
It wasn¹t the result we expected but I really enjoyed the game.
Tomorrow we will definitely get a medal to take back to Japan!
AUS 56 SWE 38
AustraliaTeam player Andrew Harrison (#15):
We had our roles we had to stick to. Our big thing was working on defense. It paid off in the end.
Tonight we will relax and recover from today and then come in tomorrow with a brand new strategy. We¹ll go out there and do our jobs and go from there.
This tournament has gone exactly the way we wanted it to. We¹re really
comfortable about tomorrow.
Sweden Team player Mikael Norlin (#8):
We knew Australia was a strong team.
We¹re looking forward to the bronze medal game tomorrow. We¹ll talk about how to prepare for it.
We set up a goal before coming here and in many ways we have reached our goals so everything else is a bonus.
NZL 50 GER 44
New Zealand Team Player Chris Lay (#8):
It was a fantastic way to finish a tournament. We¹re pretty disappointed
with the total outcome but we played the last three games very well. The
team kept getting stronger.
There is a good feeling amongst the team and we look forward to the future and re-building.
Germany Team Head Coach Joe Soares:
I kind of knew that I was going to get very frustrated this weekend because I inherited a team that has not had much success lately.
Every young team goes through this. As long as we learn and keep moving forward.
FIN 75 ARG 26
Finland Team player Risto Mort (#5):
That was our first ever victory in a World Championships. We continued what we have learned and kept it simple.
Argentina Team Captain Juan Francisco Foa (#5): It¹s been a great tournament. We improved every single game. We don¹t have
a very large team so we don¹t have many subs, so we are exhausted.
We learned a lot. We want now to go back to Argentina and try to put our experience into developing players.
We¹re looking forward to being in Toronto in 2015 at the Para Pans.
