Canada Retakes Narrow Lead at Pan Ams

(ATR) Canada regains control of the lead in the medal count at the Pan Am Games by one medal over the United States as day seven of competition begins.

Canada was able to take the lead once more thanks in part to a strong performance in the badminton tournament that concluded Thursday. The women’s singles match featured two Canadian athletes battling for the top spot in their country and the Americas.

Canada now has 97 medals to the 96 of the United States. Brazil holds their spot at third place with 61 medals, 10 more than fourth place Cuba with 51. Canada still leads the gold medal count by four over the U.S. with 38.

The action on Friday begins at 9:00 a.m. with matches in field hockey, beach volleyball and equestrian dressage events. Throughout the day, athletes will compete in a total of 18 events.

Six of these events feature athletes competing for medals, including archery, cycling track, shooting, squash, swimming and wrestling.

This is the first day of medal competition for archery with the medal matches for both the men’s and women’s team events. Archery will wrap-up competition on Saturday.

Day two of the golf tournament gets underway this afternoon, with Alejandro Tosti of Argentina leading the men’s side and Julieta Granada of Paraguay leading the women’s after day one.

The men’s softball tournament semifinals get underway Friday with the U.S., Venezuela, Argentina and Canada all aiming to reach a spot in the gold medal match Saturday afternoon.

Friday also features the first day of competition for athletes in rhythmic gymnastics with the all-around qualifications taking place. These athletes will look to earn their spot in the final of the all-around competition that takes place Saturday afternoon. Rhythmic gymnastics is the only competition that gets its Pan Am open on Friday.

Squash will be the only sport finishing its tournament at the Pan Ams on Friday with the women’s team gold match between Canada and the U.S. while the men’s team gold match pits Canada against Mexico.

Written by Kevin Nutley

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