Canada’s wheelchair basketball teams move to Tokyo classification round

Men can finish seventh, women have shot at fifth

Team Canada women thanking the support as they lose a tough match against Great Britain COURTESY PARALYMPIC.CA

Both the Canadian men’s and women’s wheelchair basketball teams faced equally heartbreaking losses in their respective quarter-final match-ups.

Each team’s tournaments are still going on, however, as they close out the competition in classification playoffs to determine their exact ranking.

The men, led by veteran Patrick Anderson, started out well against a quality Great Britain team, but gave up a half-time lead to ultimately fall 66-52 in a game that was closer than the scoreline suggests.

They took care of the ball well with only six turnovers throughout, but they allowed the British to shoot 47 per cent from the field while only shooting 37 per cent themselves.

Anderson’s impressive performance was not enough to get Canada over the hump. He put up 22 points, with 17 rebounds and seven assists as he played the entire 40 minutes.

The 42-year-old and his teammates will be determined to finish the Paralympics on a high as they wrap up in the 7-8 classification playoff against Germany on Thursday at 11:30 p.m. EST.

The women were hit with a painful quarter-final loss of 63-48 in a classic national rivalry against the United States.

It was a difficult loss for a team that was excelling in the tournament up to that point and at a competition in which it seemed as though they could go all the way.

Star player Kady Dandeneau had a sub-par performance compared to previous games in Tokyo. She finished with eight points on 4/15 shooting, with 13 rebounds and six assists.

Woman’s team shooting underwhelming 34 per cent from the field in a game where they only led for 17 seconds.

The Canadian women have to recover and focus on the 5-6 classification playoff against a Japanese team they have already got the best of this tournament.

That game will take place Friday at 2 a.m. EST.

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Posted: Sep 1 2021 12:51 pm
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Filed under: Parasports Sports Tokyo Paralympics Wheelchair Basketball
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