April 10, 2024: The 2024 WPV Sitting Volleyball Final Paralympics Qualifiers concluded today in Dali, China, with Slovenia (women) and Ukraine (men) winning in the final round and earning the remaining tickets to the upcoming Paralympic Games in Paris.

On Tuesday, Canada's men's sitting team wrapped up its Final Qualifier campaign with an exciting match against home-crowd favourites, China. Canada was able to finish the tournament on a high note against the higher ranked China, despite the tie-break loss 2-3 (27-25, 24-26, 20-25, 25-21, 20-22). Canada ended with a record of 3 wins and 4 losses, with some exciting matches under their belt. 
 
"It was an awesome week of seven matches in seven days," said Jeff Smith, men’s sitting volleyball head coach. "Overall it was a good representation of how hard the guys have been working. We battled with teams that were higher ranked than us and were able to push Ukraine (the eventual winners) to five. I’m super-impressed with the team’s effort."
 
Canada finished fourth overall in the men’s tournament (only the top teams in each gender qualified for the Games); Canada’s women’s team, already qualified for Paris 2024, did not attend this event. 
 
Canada’s men’s team was ranked 13th going into the tournament and hopes to improve its standing as a result of this result. 
 
Men’s standings
Ukraine (UKR)
United States (USA)
China (CHN)
Canada (CAN)
Iraq  (IRQ)
Croatia (CRO)
Japan  (JPN)
Poland (POL)

For complete results, see www.worldparavolley.org/2024-wpv-final-paralympics-qualifier/

Canada's Roster:
#2        Mikael Bartholdy (Calgary)
#5        Nasif Chowdhury (Toronto)
#6        Bryce Foster (Thunder Bay)
#7        Doug Learoyd (Calgary) Team captain
#9        Andrew Tucker (Toronto)
#11       José Rebelo (Montreal)
#13       Dariusz Symonowicz (Toronto)
#14       Connor Compton (Calgary)
#19       Jason Beaman (Calgary)
#20       Jesse Buckingham (Toronto)
           
Head Coach: Jeff Smith (Grande Prairie)
Assistant Coach: Taylor Dyer (Lloydminster)
Assistant Coach: Tristan Simmonds (Kelowna)
Therapist: Dr. Blair Murphy (Calgary)
Manager: Matheus Braz (Gatineau)
 

Volleyball Canada Media Contact:
Jackie Skender
jskender@volleyball.ca
Mobile: 613-794-7676