Richmond's Ian Chan and Travis Murao helped Canada win silver in wheelchair rugby at the Paralympic Games in London.
London. After a thrilling one-point victory against defending champion and world No. 1 USA to advance to the gold medal game, Canada wasn't able to repeat the performance of the previous day. The team started off flat, turning the ball over twice in the first minutes of the game and went on to lose 66-51 to Australia.
"I thought we had a good game plan against Australia, but man, they came out on fire," said head coach Kevin Orr. "I really liked the way our guys responded during the tournament. We started out with that flat line game (against Australia in the round robin) and then really worked hard throughout the tournament. I have to give credit to our guys. They were scrappy, and our young ones showed a lot of composure through this game."
The bright spot for the Canadians in the final was the performance of Murao with Zak Madell and Patrice Dagenais. When Jason Crone received a flagrant foul, Canada was forced to go three on four for five minutes. This line-up, however, performed admirably, keeping the score even despite being over manned.
Throughout the 2012 London Paralympics Canada consistently stepped up in close games. After falling 6452 to Australia in the first match, they regrouped to beat Belgium 57-50, then to win two one-point victories against Sweden and the United States. While the silver medal may feel bitter sweet for now, this Canadian squad goes home on the back of their best performance since 2004.
Chan, who served as the team's co-captain, now has three Paralympic medals on his mantle. The 35-year-old also won silver at the 2004 Games and added bronze four years later.
This was Murao's first Paralympic Games. The 29year-old helped Canada win bronze at the 2006 World Championships but didn't compete at the 2008 Games in Beijing.
