Canada impressive in basketball qualifiers
RIO DI JANIERO, BRAZIL— Arinn Young of Legal, Alta., and Quebec City’s Cindy Ouellet combined for more than half of Canada’s points as the women’s wheelchair basketball team defeated Brazil 82-49 at the Paralympics on Monday.
Young scored 22 points while Ouellet added 20 as the Canadians improved to 3-1at the tournament after a disappointing loss to Germany on Sunday. Germany and Britain were also 3-1in Pool A but ranked first and second on the tiebreaking procedure. Canada now advances to Tuesday’s quarter-final against the Netherlands, which was second in Pool B, also at 3-1.
In track and field, Pamela LeJean of Cape Breton, N.S., was fourth in the women’s F53 shot put.
Five Canadian swimmers reached finals in Monday’s heats: Nathan Stein of Surrey, B.C., and Alec Elliot of Kitchener, Ont., in the men’s S10 100-metre butterfly, Saskatoon’s Samantha Ryan in the women’s S10 100-metre butterfly and Sarah Mehain of Vernon, B.C., and Tess Routliffe of Caledon, Ont., in the women’s S7 50-metre butterfly.
“That was actually a really bad swim for me,” said Elliot. “I had a bad touch to the wall and I was not nearly fast enough. I’m hoping for a better first 50 metre tonight and to bring it back a little stronger.”
The Canadian men’s goalball team dropped to 1-2 with a 17-13 loss to Algeria. They are currently tied for third in their pool with Algeria and Germany. The top-four from each pool advances. Canada closes out the preliminary round Tuesday against Sweden.
TICKETS FLYING: Three weeks ago, organizers and event fans were worried that the 2016 Paralympics would not be well-attended. But when São Paulo resident Marco Fumis arrived at a lively Olympic Park on Saturday, he was blown away with what he saw.
“I’m positively surprised by this,” said Fumis. “We are really emotional people, and I think we realized how important it is for not only the Olympics but the Paralympics. A lot of us are here to better understand how these athletes do what they do, so we’re here to support.”
The fan support is significant. The 170,000 tickets sold for events at Olympic Park on Saturday, surpassed the one-day total for some days at recent Olympics. On Sunday, 46,000 tickets were sold at Olympic Stadium, the track and field venue separate from Olympic Park.
A last-minute campaign that originated in Great Britain, called #FillTheSeats and supported by donors such as Coldplay, Prince Harry and U.S. Paralympian Tatyana McFadden, boosted sales for tickets given to Brazilian children.
Brazilians can buy tickets for as low as 10 reais (about $3) and pay for them on a four-month plan (2.5 reais per month), Rio 2016 spokesman Mario Andrada said.
Total ticket sales now sit at 1,863,000, the second-highest Paralympic Games total ever.