Co-captains Arinn Young and Cindy Ouelette celebrate their semi-final win Thursday in Lima, Peru. – submitted photo
by Morinville News Staff
After leading her team with 24 points in a 61-40 semifinal win over Brazil, Legal’s Arrin Young and the Canadian Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team are guaranteed a spot in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. They also will play the US in the gold-medal game Friday night at the Lima games.
“There are so many emotions right now. I’m just thankful we pulled through,” said co-captain Arinn Young. “That was a really great team win. We just kept working minute by minute, and it paid off. We are going to Tokyo.”
Co-Captain Cindy Ouellet of Quebec City said the team has been training for a few years to qualify for Tokyo. “This summer in particular we trained hard for four months leading into this. So we are super proud right now that we qualified for our country,” she said.
Canada last faced the US in the finals in 2015. In that contest, Canada lost 80-72. Young was part of that team four years ago.
“I think Canada is all about redeeming ourselves right now. We had a rough go a little bit for the last couple of years, and I think the world needs to see what Canada can do in that gold medal game. We are going to get the job done,” Young said.
