Parapans Preview Day One: 15 Golds up for Grabs

12 Nov 2011

A total of 15 gold medals will be up for grabs on day one (13 November) of the Parapan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico as competition gets underway in seven sports.

The first four medals to be awarded will be in the Time Trial Cycling events which will see athletes speeding through the streets of Guadalajara.

Two of the time trial races (Mixed Time Trial B & Mixed Time Trial C1-5) will see competitors complete two laps of the course in order to cover the 21.6km distance. The other two races (Mixed Time Trail H1-4 & T1-2) will see cyclists race round just one lap of the 10.8km course.

With 30 cyclists from nine countries, the Mixed Time Trial C1-5 race will be contested by the largest field of the four races.

The remaining 11 gold medals on day one will be won from 16:00 in the Swimming competition at the Scotiabank Aquatics Centre. A total of 180 swimmers from 14 countries are competing in the pool over the next seven days in 85 medals events.

Goalball is expected to prove popular on Sunday with a number of mouth watering games. Of the five scheduled games, the rivalry between USA’s men and Canada is likely to make that fixture a tasty encounter, however the biggest draw of the day will be hosts Mexico against Brazil in the final men’s game of the day.

Vocal crowds are also expected at Wheelchair Basketball where four women’s and two men’s games will be played. Both Mexico’s women and men are in action against Guatemala and El Salvador respectively, although the best game of the day will arguably be Brazil against Canada in Group A of the women’s competition.

In Boccia, Table Tennis and the men’s singles of Wheelchair Tennis, the first games will be played in the individual competitions.

The 2011 Parapan American Games has attracted 1,500 athletes from 24 countries who will compete in 13 different sports.