Juegos Parapanamericanos; Lima 2019 Author: Lima 2019 press release Lima, 22 October 2019

DELEGATIONS FROM BRAZIL, USA, CANADA AND ARGENTINA COMPETE TO BE SELECTED BEST TEAM OF LIMA 2019

The winner will be selected for their good performance at the Parapan American Games, through a survey by the Americas Paralympic Committee.

El ganador será considerado por su buena participación en los Juegos Parapanamericanos, a través de una encuesta del Comité Paralímpico de las Américas.

The Americas Paralympic Committee (APC) presented the list of countries from which the Best Team of August will be selected based on their performance at the Parapan American Games.

The public will be able to vote the team they consider to be the best of Lima 2019 on the APC website until Tuesday, October 22, at https://www.paralympic.org/americas-paralympic-committee.

APC decided to divide the Americas Athlete of the Month award for August into three different categories: Best Female Athlete, Best Male Athlete and Best Team, based on results obtained at the Lima 2019 Parapan American Games.

In this way, 12-year-old Colombian swimmer, Sara Vargas, was chosen as the Best Female Athlete, while weightlifter Herbert Aceituno from El Salvador was selected as the Best Male Athlete.

The candidates for best team at Lima 2019 are:

Brazilian men’s goalball team

Successfully defended the Parapan American title after a hard-fought 12-9 victory over USA in the final.

US men’s wheelchair basketball team

Defeated all their opponents on their way to the final, where they convincingly beat Canada 76-43.

Canadian women’s wheelchair basketball team

In one of the top moments of the Parapan American Games, Canada beat USA 67-64 in the gold medal-match to take revenge from the Toronto 2015 defeat.

Argentinian boccia team

During the Lima 2019 competition, they beat Mexico 12-0 and Brazil 8-1 to reach the top of the podium in the BC1/BC2 event.

The nominations were submitted by National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) from across the continent.

The 2019 Americas Athlete of the Month winners are:

• January – Johanna Sossa and Johana Martinez, Colombia, wheelchair tennis

• February – Rebeca Valenzuela Alvarez, Mexico, athletics

• March – Matias Pino, Chile, table tennis

• April – Daniel Martins, Brazil, athletics

• May – Sherman Guity, Costa Rica, athletics

• June – Luis Flores, Chile, table tennis

• July – Juan Carlos Garrido, Chile, powerlifting

• August (Lima 2019 Best Female Athlete) – Sara Vargas, Colombia, swimming

• August (Lima 2019 Best Male Athlete) – Herbert Aceituno, El Salvador, weightlifting

SOURCE: Americas Paralympic Committee