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 tennis, Mitch McIntyre of Vancouver advanced to the quarterfinals in wheelchair tennis quad singles.
Also moving into the final eight were Thomas Venos of Anmore, B.C. and Barry Henderson of Mission, B.C. in men’s doubles.
McIntyre, ranked 24th in the world, defeated Edison Molina of Ecuador 6-2, 6-3 in 68 minutes to advance.
"I'm getting more and more comfortable with the clay," said McIntyre, fourth in the event at the 2019 Games in Lima. "I thought I played a pretty smooth first set, got away from the game plan a little bit in the second but I was able to adjust and do what I had to do to win."
Canada’s other entry in quad singles is defending champion and co-flag-bearer in the Opening Ceremony, Rob Shaw of North Bay, Ont. Shaw had a bye to the quarters and opens Tuesday against Diego Perez of Chile.
McIntyre faces another Chilean Francico Cayulef.
In men’s doubles, Venos and Henderson opened their tournament with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Francisco Beltran and Eduardo Lopez of Ecuador.
Earlier Monday, Venos lost in the men’s singles quarterfinals to Connor Stroud of the U.S. 6-3, 6-1.
"Our matches in the past year have been really close," said Venos, 24, at his second Parapan Am Games. "If a few points could have gone my way, the result may have been different."
In women’s doubles, Anne Marie Dolinar of Deep River and Natalia Lanucha of Pincourt, Que., were beaten by Americans Dana Mathewson and Maylee Phelps 6-0, 6-2 in their opening match.
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.
The men's goalball team lost 5-4 to Argentina and fell to 1-2 in the preliminary round.
Canada's wheelchair rugby team stayed perfect at 4-0 with a pair of convincing wins, 60-27 over host Chile and 61-45 over Colombia.
Toronto's Rio Kanda Kovac and Matthew Delby, of Windsor, Ont., had 17 tries each against Chile, while Zak Madell of Okotoks, Alta., had 29 against Colombia.
Canada completes preliminary-round play with a matchup against the rival United States on Tuesday.
Canada's men's wheelchair basketball team pulled out a 56-49 win over Argentina to finish atop Group A at 3-0.
Pat Anderson had 19 points and 15 rebounds, with Colin Higgins adding 15 points and 10 rebounds to lead the way for Canada.
The Canadians now await the conclusion of Group B play to find out their opponent for Wednesday’s quarterfinals.
Canada lost 2-1 to Chile in cerebral palsy soccer and saw its record fall to 0-3.
Canada closed the day in eighth in the medal standings with three gold and 11 overall medals.
Brazil is atop the leaderboard with 55 gold and 127 total medals. The U.S., with 14 gold and 46 overall medals, and Colombia, with 12 gold and 44 total medals are second and third, respectively.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 20, 2023.
The Canadian Press
