Home court, high hopes as Canada's men and women chase wheelchair basketball world gold

Home court, high hopes as Canada's men and women chase wheelchair basketball world gold

Women won in 2014 while men's squad aims to end 20-year drought in Ottawa

Canada's men's and women's wheelchair basketball teams hope home-court advantage can help end a lengthy world championship drought.

Canada will host the IWBF Wheelchair Basketball World Championships for the first time since 2014, with all games being played in Ottawa. Action begins Wednesday, with the championship games Sept. 19.

This marks the first time Canada has hosted the men's and women's world championships together, with 17 countries represented by 15 men's teams and 12 women's teams.

Iran was scheduled to compete in the men's tournament but withdrew over the weekend because of visa issues affecting four team members, including the head coach and an assistant coach.

Iran was in Canada's group with Morocco and Germany, and its games will be recorded as forfeits with no changes to the schedule.

The Canadian women know firsthand what home-court advantage can mean. The last time the world championship was held in Canada, they captured gold in Toronto in 2014. The men, meanwhile, are chasing their first world title since 2006.

Both Canadian teams reached the quarterfinals at the last world championships in Dubai in 2023, with the women finishing fifth and the men sixth.

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For Arinn Young, the tournament is a full-circle moment.

With the world championships held every four years, opportunities to compete on home soil are rare. This will be the veteran's fourth worlds and her second in Canada.

'Exciting' to play on home soil again

The 30-year-old was part of Canada's gold-medal team in 2014 but played limited minutes as a rookie, jokingly describing herself as "more of a cheerleader."

"There are some people that have played 15 to 20 years, and they never get to experience a major on home soil, and I get to experience it twice," said Young. "Now I'm a vet on our national team and play big minutes, so it's going to be a little bit different. It's exciting to get to showcase who I am as an athlete and who we are as Canada on home soil again."

While players try to keep politics off the court, Kady Dandeneau borrowed a line from Prime Minister Mark Carney, saying Canada wants to come out "elbows up."

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“We're coming out to be aggressors, like to really set the tone that we're here to attack," said Dandeneau, who will be playing in her third world championship. "We're not waiting for anyone to give us our opportunity; we're going to go out there and create our own opportunity and take it."

Canada is in Group A with China, Brazil, Great Britain, Australia and Spain. Group B features the United States, Japan, the Netherlands, Algeria, Germany and France.

On the men's side, Canada won its last world title 20 years ago in Amsterdam and took bronze when Edmonton hosted the worlds in 1994.

Veteran Nik Goncin says Canada may lack size, but it makes up for it with chemistry.

'We're playing the best kind of team basketball'

That camaraderie stands out considering the range of experience on the roster, from 17-year-old Ibrahim Odza to 42-year-old Tyler Miller.

"We're playing the best kind of team basketball," Goncin said. "So, I like to think that that's going to be our strength because that's the thing we've got to lean into and move as a squad as opposed to individual athletes just NBA-ing out there."

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The men's tournament is divided into four groups. The U.S., Italy, Brazil and the Netherlands make up Group A; Australia, Great Britain, Turkey and Argentina are in Group B; Spain, Japan, Poland and Colombia are in Group C; and Canada, Morocco and Germany are in Group D following Iran's withdrawal.

Canadian head coach Matteo Feriani says his team needs to be ready to compete from the opening tip.

"When you play internationally, the competition is very intense, and there is a lot of physicality," Feriani said. "And when you are the home team, everybody wants to beat you. They will want to show up against us."

Canada's women open play Wednesday against Spain, while the men tip off against Morocco.

The U.S. men's team comes in as the defending world champions, while the Netherlands hold the title on the women's side.