Canadian archer to shoot for bronze at Parapan Am Games

SANTIAGO, Chile –

Canadian para archer Kyle Tremblay will compete for bronze in the men’s compound open event at the 2023 Parapan Am Games after losing his semifinal match in a tiebreaker Monday.

Tremblay, from Deep River, Ont., was tied at 153 points with Diego Quesada of Costa Rica after five rounds.

Quesada was closer to the bull’s-eye in the one-shot tiebreaker.

“That last arrow is just a matter of controlling your nerves, knowing your shot process without having to think about it and just stay focused on aiming,” said Tremblay, 32. “Mine was just outside the 10-point mark, his was inside, so he clearly won.”

Tremblay will face Victor Sardinia of Mexico in Wednesday’s bronze-medal game. Kevin Polish of the United States faces Quesada for gold.

By reaching the semifinal, Tremblay earned a quota spot for Canada in the men’s compound open at the 2024 Paris Paralympics. Mexico also locked down a spot. The U.S. and Costa Rica had already earned their quota spots before the Games.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling to have qualified that spot,” Tremblay said. “It makes all my training I’ve done this past year worth it and puts everything into perspective on how hard you have to work for these types of things.”

Tremblay opened the tournament placing second in the ranking round and earning a bye to Monday morning’s quarterfinals. He defeated Joffre Villavivencio of Ecuador 139-126 to advance to the final four.

Villavivencio put himself out of contention in the second round when he completely missed a target.

“I was much happier with my second match,” said Tremblay. “The match before was a little shaky so I just went back to basics and had a much better score.”

Canada added another medal in the pool with Jordan Tucker picking up a bronze medal in the women’s 50-metre S5 butterfly.

Tucker finished in 54.70 seconds. Esthefany De Oliveira of Brazil won in a Parapan Am record time of 47.08 seconds. Colombia’s Darlin Romero was second (51.99)

In other results Monday, Canada’s women’s goalball team improved to 1-1 with an 11-1 win over Peru. Emma Reinke of St. Thomas, Ont., led Canada with seven goals.

Canada’s wheelchair rugby team stayed perfect at 3-0 with a convincing 60-27 win over host Chile. Toronto’s Rio Kanda Kovac and Matthew Delby, of Windsor, Ont., had 17 tries each.

Canada faced Colombia later Monday and completed preliminary-round play with a matchup against the rival United States on Tuesday,

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 20, 2023.