Toronto (Canada), October 18 (EFE).- Canada arrives at the 19th Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile with a team of approximately 470 athletes who will compete in 39 disciplines, except basketball, baseball, Basque pelota and football; and the goal of surpassing the 152 medals in 2019.
Although the Canadian delegation is slightly smaller than at the XVIII Pan American Games held in 2019 in Lima, where Canada sent 477 athletes, the North Americans arrive in Santiago with the intention of improving their medal table compared to the Peruvian competition.
In Lima, Canada was the fourth country for metals, with a total of 152: 35 gold, 65 silver and 52 bronze. In Santiago, Canada will not have an easy task achieving its objective.
This year, Canada has decided not to send its men’s and women’s soccer teams to the Chilean capital.
The loss of this second is significant since Canada occupies tenth place in the FIFA world rankings and on the American continent it is only behind the United States and Brazil, who practically guaranteed it a medal.
The Canadian Soccer Federation justified the absence of Canadian players due to scheduling problems.
This is the second time Canadian football players have not participated in the Pan American Games: in 2019, the team also did not travel to Lima to focus on preparing for that year’s World Cup.
The absence of the men’s soccer team, after a sensational campaign that took them to the World Cup in Qatar this year, also deprives the Canadians of another possible medal at the Pan American Games.
But in Santiago, Canada hopes to dominate once again in sports like athletics, where in Lima it won 15 medals, including five gold and six silver, and swimming, where it also won 15 medals, this time one gold, eight silver and six. bronze.
Gymnastics should also provide Canada with a nice series of medals. In Lima, Canadians won five gold medals, five silver and four bronze.
Traditionally, Canada also excels in canoeing. In Lima, Canadians won 13 medals in this sport: three gold, six silver and four bronze.
And in water skiing, Canada won 10 medals: one gold, five silver and four bronze.
But Canada also hopes to shine in “breaking”, which is making its debut this year as a discipline at the Pan American Games and which will become an Olympic sport in 2024 when it debuts at the Paris Olympic Games.
Canada appears in Santiago with four exceptional athletes, the maximum possible in the new “breaking” category: Philip Kim, Tiffany Leung, Emma Misak and Onton See.
Kim, also known as B-Boy Phil Wizard, arrives in Santiago as one of the favorites for gold after winning the World DanceSport Federation (WDSF) World Championship held in Seoul in 2022 and the tournament Pan American WDSF that same year.
Julius Caesar Rivas
(c) EFE Agency
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