Six of the best wheelchair rugby teams in the world will be at the Richmond Olympic Oval this week for the 8th annual Canada Cup.
The action gets underway on Thursday with Team Canada taking on Sweden at 5 p.m. Canada will also face Denmark (9:30 a.m.) and Japan (7:30 p.m.) on Friday and United States (11 a.m.) and Australia (5 pm.) Saturday. The bronze (noon) and gold medal games (2 p.m.) are set for Sunday.
Team Canada is bringing a new-look squad to the tournament with five players set to make their Canada Cup debut, alongside seven returning Paralympians including co-captain and Vancouver-resident Trevor Hirschfield. Currently ranked 3rd in the world, the team will be using the Canada Cup to prepare for the World Wheelchair Rugby Championships in Sydney, Australia.
Also among the returning players is Richmond native Travis Murao, 35, who helped Canada win silver at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London and also attended the Summer Games in Rio.
His passion for both English Literature and wheelchair rugby took him to Tucson where he studied English at the University of Arizona and won a US Quad Rugby Association national championship title with the Tucson Pterodactyls.
The rest of the Team Canada roster includes: Cody Caldwell (Peterborough, Ont.), Patrice Dagenais (Embrun, Ont.), Matt Debly (Windsor, Ont.), Fabien Lavoie (Québec City, Que.), Anthony Létourneau (Boisbriand, Que.), Eric Rodrigues, (Mississauga, Ont.), Patrice Simard (Quebec City, Que.), Shayne Smith (Toronto, Ont.), Branden Troutman (Edmonton, Alta.) and Mike Whitehead (Windsor, Ont.).
“We are very excited for the 2018 Canada Cup,” says tournament chair Gail Hamamoto. “Fans and spectators are guaranteed excitement as the world-class athletes bring their best to B.C.”
