USA Wheelchair Rugby is in British Colombia this week for the 2016 International Wheelchair Rugby Canada Cup. All of the teams the U.S. will face in Rio with the exception of France and Brazil will be on hand for the four day competition Thursday June 23rd – Sunday, June 26th. The U.S. will open play against Great Britain, facing Australia, Japan, Switzerland, Sweden. The Americans will close out the competition facing rival Canada at 11:30 EDT on the 26th. “The Canada Cup presents a great opportunity for USA Wheelchair Rugby,” said U.S. Head Coach James Gumbert. The ability to see the top six teams play at an invitational tournament with less than three months to go to Rio is vital. It also gives us a really good idea of who we might look to select for the Rio squad. We expect this to be some of the best competition we have seen since October of last year in London.”
While the pools for the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games are set, valuable world rankings are up for grabs at this last international competition prior to September. “Coming into this tournament we are currently ranked number two in the world, ” continued Gumbert. We take world ranking seriously and will be fighting to regain the number one seed.”
The 2016 Canada Cup will be live streamed. Catch all the action at Live-stream: 2016 Canada Cup International Wheelchair Rugby Tournament | viaSport .
Match scores and recaps will be posted daily on usawr.org
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About USA Wheelchair Rugby
Wheelchair Rugby was invented in Canada in 1977. Originally known as “murderball” because of its intense physical nature, the sport’s name was changed to wheelchair rugby. By 1993 wheelchair rugby was officially recognized as a sport for athletes with disability and the International Wheelchair Rugby Federation was founded. In 1994 Wheelchair Rugby was recognized by the International Paralympic Committee as a Paralympic sport and made its Paralympic debut as a demonstration event in Atlanta in 1996. It became a medal sport in Sydney in 2000, where the United States won the gold medal. In 2013, USA Wheelchair Rugby partnered with USA Rugby in order to collaborate in the growth of Rugby in America.
Lakeshore Foundation, a U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Site in Birmingham, Alabama, serves as the High Performance Management Organization for USA Wheelchair Rugby under contract with the United States Olympic Committee. With a unique combination of activity, research and advocacy Lakeshore is a leader in their field. Learn more about USA Wheelchair Rugby and Lakeshore Foundation at www.lakeshore.org.
USA Wheelchair Rugby is proudly supported by Liberty Mutual Insurance. Liberty Mutual Insurance is the official property and casualty and life insurance partner of the U.S. Olympic Committee for the 2016 Olympic Games and 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The company also is the proud sponsor and partner of several national governing bodies, including ASA/USA Softball, U.S. Rowing, U.S. Soccer Federation, US Youth Soccer, USA Hockey, USA Volleyball, USA Water Polo and USA Wrestling.
For more information contact Jen Remick at jenr@lakeshore.org or 205.999.4944