TORONTO, Canada – The U.S. brought home another huge win tonight in their match up defeating Chile 54-11.
The combination of experience and skill from the Americans proved to be too much for the Chilean squad. Held scoreless for the first period, they never seemed to break through the tough American defense in this game. “Tonight we played an emerging nation with Chile,” said Coach Gumbert. “What’s neat is to remember where we’ve come from. Chile is just starting in their program; to see the excitement with which they play, it’s like looking in a mirror. The score does not reflect the amount of passion and heart they played with in this game.”
Top scorers for the U.S. were Clayton Brackett (Birmingham, AL) with 14 and Rob Deller (Marietta, GA) with 11. Deller, who was a late add to the roster is proud to be representing his nation at this level. “It means the world to me to come here and represent the USA. This big stage could be a little overwhelming but thus far, it has been nothing but awesome,” said Deller.
The Parapan American Games serve as qualifier for the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games, with the top finisher in wheelchair rugby securing a spot. Round robin competition will continue Tuesday, August 11th as the U.S. faces Colombia at 8 p.m. EST. Games continue throughout the week with semi-final and final games being held on Thursday, August 13 and Friday, August 14. Wheelchair rugby is one of the sports being live streamed at these Games, check out http://www.paralympic.org/live-sport to catch the action each day.
Follow the action from Toronto on USA Wheelchair Rugby’s Website Twitter and Facebook pages.