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CANADIAN
WOMEN WIN SILVER, MEN BRONZE AT PAN AM JUNIOR WATER
POLO CHAMPIONSHIPS
BOCA RATON, Florida (Canadian Sport News)- Canada won
the silver medal in women's competition Sunday at the
Pan American junior water polo championships while the
men's team won the bronze medal.
In
the women's final, the defending champion United States
built a big first half lead and held on to beat Canada
7-5. The Canadians outscored the Americans 4-2 in the
second half but couldn't complete the comeback.
Melanie
Laroche of Montreal, Tara Campbell and Rosanna Tomiuk,
both of Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Que., and Calgarians
Janis Pardy and Brooke Zimmerman scored for Canada.
The Canadians were three for 10 on the power play.
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"We
regained composure in the second half and fought
hard," said Canadian co-coach Ahmed El-Awadi.
"We just ran out of time. Still this was
our best finish ever against the U.S. in women's
junior play. I think we've sent a message that
our women's junior program is back on track."
Rachel
Riddell of Vancouver was named the tournament's
most valuable goalie.
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Calgary
will host the women's world junior championships next
August. The U.S. is also the reigning world junior champions.
On
the men's side, the Canadians posted an impressive 12-10
victory over Argentina. Vladimir Cosic of Calgary
scored five goals, Benjamin Poulin of Montreal added
three, Simon Poitras Montreal two with singles to Marshall
Young of Regina and Daniel Stein of Vancouver.
"The
way we rebounded from yesterday's heartbreaking semifinal
loss really impressed me," said Canadian coach
Yannick Lizé. "It was really nice to end
this tournament with a win."
SIMPLY
THE BEST: DESPATIE COMPLETES GOLDEN SWEEP AT DIVING
WORLD JUNIORS
AACHEN,
Germany (Canadian Sport News) - Alexandre Despatie of
Laval, Que., left no doubt Sunday that he is the best
junior-aged diver in the world.
Despatie,
17, completed a golden sweep of all three boards Sunday
at the world junior diving championships winning the men's
10-metre tower in the 16-18 age group. He also displayed
his great versatility this week with gold on the three-metre
springboard on Wednesday and one-metre on Thursday.
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Alexandre Despatie continues to show his golden
form..
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The
double Commonwealth Games champion compiled 632.25
points highlighted by two perfect 10's on his arm
stand backward triple somersault in tuck position.
He also got two 9.5's on his opening inward 1 1/2
somersaults in tuck position and concluded the sparkling
five-dive performance with three 9.5's on his back
2 1/2 somersaults with 1 ½ twists.
Haichong
Mo of China was a distant second at 579.00 and Yongjie
Zhou of China third at 566.00. Julio Abate of Montreal
was 10th.
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At
17, Despatie has a career, which would make most veterans
envious: in three world junior appearance he has six gold
and one silver. He's won three Grand Prix events and 20
international medals overall along with 14 senior and
12 junior Canadian titles. He holds the national records
on all three boards. He was fourth at the 2000 Olympics
on tower and second in the same event at the 2001 World
Championships. He was Canada's male junior athlete of
the year in 1998, 1999 and 2000 and is now a leading candidate
for 2002.
In
the women's three-metre synchronized event, Taryn Zack
and Kelsey Patterson, both of Edmonton, placed 10th.
In
the final medal standings, China was first with six gold,
six silver and four bronze. Canada followed with three
gold and a silver won on Wednesday by Jennifer Ferguson
of Beaconsfield, Que., in the women's 15 and under platform.
Italy had a gold, three silver and a bronze.
CANADA
WINS TWO MEDALS AT TRAMPOLINE AND TUMBLING WORLD CUP
EDMONTON
(Canadian Sport News) - Karen Cockburn of Toronto and
Heather McManus of Ottawa nearly scored a major upset
in women's synchronized trampoline and won a silver medal
Saturday at the fifth stop on the World Cup trampoline
and tumbling circuit.
In
men's synchronized trampoline Mathieu Turgeon of Toronto
and Michel Greene of Quebec City, a last minute match-up,
took the bronze.
In
women's synchro, world champions Olena Movchan and Oksana
Tsyguleva were first at 48.50 points for their fourth
win in five World Cup events. Cockburn and McManus, who
formed a new partnership this season, were a very close
second at 48.40 for their second consecutive runner-up
finish on the circuit. Anna Dogonadze and Tina Ludwig
of Germany were third at 46.60.
"We
had the highest difficulty of the competition and we did
quite well," said McManus, who trains about once
a month with her partner. "Our form scores were very
high but we probably lost the gold on synchronization.
The Ukranians were right on through their whole routine
and were a bit better than us. But it was exciting to
get this close to them."
In
men's synchro, David Martin and Guillaume Bourgeon of
France were the winners with 50.00 points. Markus Kubicka
and Henrik Stehlik of Germany were second at 48.70 while
Greene and Turgeon took the bronze at 48.60.
Greene
and Turgeon were only informed Saturday morning they would
form a partnership. Turgeon's regular partner Chris Mitruk
of Burlington withdrew due to a back injury.
"We've
done a couple of meets together in past years but we never
expected we could win a medal tonight," said Greene,
a 30-year-old lawyer with the Quebec provincial government.
"Our warm-ups weren't very encouraging but we nailed
the routine when it was time. We're both veterans and
both have similar builds and I think that really helped
us."
The
next stop on the World Cup is next weekend in Greensboro,
North Carolina.
MORE
SUCCESS FOR CANADA ON THE FINAL DAY OF THE COMMONWEALTH
ROWING REGATTA
NOTTINGHAM,
U.K. - Canada's women's eight and quad bring home gold
and the men's eight and women's four picked up silver
today from Commonwealth Rowing Regatta (August 17 and
18) in Nottingham, England.
"Our
crews performed at or above the standards expected of
them," says Canadian Commonwealth team coordinator
Chantelle Hanley. "The races were well organized
and today's weather was calm and sunny. An excellent result
on an excellent day."
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Canada's
women's eight had a great regatta in the U.K..
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The
women's eight boat won in a time of 6:45.51 a length
ahead of England - with Wales and Scotland closely
behind.
The
Canadian Commonwealth women's eight is Emily Boyle
of Port Elgin, Ont., Bonnie Fiala of Enderby, B.C.,
Marilyn Taylor of Calgary, Alta., Rachel
Dunnet of Vancouver, B.C., Kathy Eggenberger of
Port McNeill, B.C., Stacey Norwood of St. John,
N.B., Emily Poupart of Chicoutimi, Que., Nicole
Borges of Mississauga, Ont. and Carolyn Rudden (cox)
of West Vancouver, B.C.
The
women's quad won a gold by 15 seconds over England.
The quad is Jane Rumball of Fredericton, N.B., Stacey
Norwood of St. John, N.B., Kathy Eggenberger of
Port McNeill, B.C. and Laura Middleton of Toronto,
Ont.
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Canada's
men's eight was second to Australia's top boat - with
England in the bronze-medal position. The men's eight
is Victoria Agate (cox), Eric Oinonen of Thunder Bay,
Ont., Liam Parsons of Thunder Bay, Ont., Dave Kay of Victoria,
B.C., Geoff Hodgson of the Yukon, Jamie Farris of Alta.,
Rob Weitemeyer of B.C., Graeme Hill of Vancouver, B.C.,
Ryan Slate of Ontario.
The
last time the Commonwealth Games included rowing as one
of the events was in the UK in 1986. Since then, Commonwealth
Rowing Championships - not an official Games event - have
been held on two occasions, in London, Ont. on Fanshawe
Lake in 1994 and 1999.
CANADA'S
NATIONAL UNDER 18 SUMMER TEAM CAPTURES 6th CONSECUTIVE
GOLD MEDAL
PIESTANY,
SLOVAKIA - Canada's National Under 18 Summer Team captured
the gold medal at the 2002 Eight Nations Under 18 Cup,
after defeating Czech Republic 5-1 in the final game of
the tournament on Sunday. Canada finished the championship
with a perfect 5-0-0 record.
Canada'sunder
18 summer team easily took the Eight Nations Championships.
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With
the victory on Sunday, Canada has now won six consecutive
gold medals at the annual summer Under 18 event
held in Europe. This annual Under 18 summer event
has evolved over the years, going from four participating
teams, to six teams last year, and to now an eight-team
tournament in 2002, featuring the top eight hockey
countries in the world.
The
Czech Republic captured the silver medal, while
Russia and Switzerland were playing for the bronze
medal.
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Mike
Richards of the OHL's Kitchener Rangers led Canada with
three goals, two on the power play and one short handed.
Nathan Horton and Corey Perry added Canada's other goals
to lead Canada to the gold medal win. Goaltender Kevin
Nastiuk of the WHL's Medicine Hat Tigers got the win for
Canada by stopping 31 of the Czech Republic's 32 shots.
Richards
took Canada's Player of the Game honours in the gold medal
match-up, while Canada took all three tournament top player
awards, with Kevin Nastiuk named top goalie; Shawn Belle
named top defenseman; and Nigel Dawes named top forward.
Game
details, including Canada's roster and summaries of all
of Canada's games, are available at the CHA's official
website at www.canadianhockey.ca
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