Windsor, Ont. Paralympian helps Team Canada clinch World Championships spot
They didn't bring home a gold, but a memory of a lifetime is associated with Debly's bronze medal.
Matt Debly Team Canada Wheelchair Rugby
Team Canada at the Wheelchair Rugby Americas Championship with their bronze medals in Brazil. (Source: World Wheelchair Rugby/Facebook)
'We were getting better and better every time to the point where it looked like we'd been playing together our whole careers,' Debly told CTV News.
His moment came in overtime of the bronze medal game. Trailing the entire match against Columbia at the World Wheelchair Rugby Americas Championship, Canada came back to send the game into an extra session.
With time running out, he found a seam up the middle. A teammate saw him streaking and hit Debly with a pass, which he took in for the game-winning try with 3.8 seconds left.
'To actually be up on the court playing at that moment and contributing to a comeback win like that, in such an important game for us, was really special and it's something that I'm going to remember, hopefully up until the next one,' Debly said.
Entering this one, Debly wasn't sure how Canada would fare. Four players dropped out before the tournament for various reasons, leaving Canada with eight on the roster.
Debly said the team practiced for two days prior to the tournament and then it was game time.
'The fact that we were able to just pretend like nothing was different, and we all kind of came together, and we were really able to grind our games is really impressive,' Debly noted.
Matt Debly Team Canada Wheelchair Rugby
Windsorite Matt Debly seen playing a game of Wheelchair Rugby in Brazil. (Source: Matt Debly/Facebook)
The win punched Canada's ticket to the world championships, being hosted in the same facility in Sao Paolo, Brazil next year. Debly said the Canadian team is going through a rebuild and has not matched the success of recent years.
'But it's also been a lot of fun and a nice challenge to try and build Canada back up onto that podium,' he said.
Debly plays for a team in Seattle in one of the best leagues in the world. He'd like to see the formation of a pro circuit and is excited about the growth of the game, which pulled in about 14,000 fans per game at the Paris Olympics last summer.
'I love it when it's loud and I love it even more when it's loud against us. You know, it's a special feeling to try and quiet a crowd in a crazy stadium,' Debly said.
'We want fans. We want eyes on the sport, and we want to show that not only are we elite athletes, but Canada is one of the top countries in the world.'
Debly now enters a training phase until early October when camp opens to select next year's team. He also looks forward to the first tournament of the season with Seattle on Halloween weekend.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBC
4 minutes ago
- CBC
Thunder Bay youth soccer players face international competition at new tournament
Thunder Bay's young soccer players are getting a chance to see how they measure up against some international opponents. The first-annual U13 Thunder Bay Chill International Invitational Tournament has been running since Wednesday at Chapples Park.. In addition to the Chill, the tournament also includes Thunder Bay's Superior Rush, Winnipeg's 1v1 Futbol Dreams, Toronto Azzurri and Venezia Nettuno Lido from Italy. "They play very, very nice soccer," Tony Colistro, executive director of the Chill, said of the Italian team. "You can see that. I think the players are always excited to play teams from different competition, from different cultures. I think it was exciting also for the fans just to see a different brand of soccer being played. So it was nice for everyone." Playing in a tournament like this one is vital to the development of young players, Colistro said during an interview at Chapples on Friday. "You could train every day, but if you don't have the competition where you're playing games and in and out, it's really hard to speed up that development, right?" he said. "So these kinds of games where you're seeing a different team from a different city, different country, it's only going to help you hone your skills." Cole Perna of Superior Rush said he's been enjoying playing in the tournament so far. "Every team here, [is a] very good team. But definitely [we have] a lot of confidence in our team," he said. "Just gotta keep playing our game, keep doing what we're doing." "Moving on the ball, and off, and yeah, I think very good chance we either win this tournament or make it to the finals." The finals will be played on Tuesday "I've just played one game," Thunder Bay Chill player Paolo Galle said Friday. "It was good, we played Italy." "They were pretty good, they pass the ball really good," he said. "But we just scored our chances and ended up winning." Galle's teammate Brody Scott said playing against the Italian team was a good learning experience. "I think we had a good performance," he said. "They taught us a lot because of their play style. I think it was very technical and fast." Colistro said the Chill hope to not only continue to the tournament next year, but expand it, as well. "We'll definitely go back and revisit," he said. "So far, we're liking what we see." "Our plan is to expand the tournament to both a male and a female division, and to older age groups, like a U15 and a U17." Play continues Tuesday at Chapples Park, with the bronze medal game taking place at 4 p.m.
CTV News
11 minutes ago
- CTV News
Canadian teen Victoria Mboko advances to NBO semifinals in Montreal
Victoria Mboko of Canada waves to the crowd following her win over Coco Gauff of the United States during round of 16 tennis action at the National Bank Open in Montreal, Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi MONTREAL — Victoria Mboko keeps on rising. Two days after dispatching No. 1 seed Coco Gauff, the Canadian teenage sensation booked her place in the National Bank Open semifinals with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Spain's Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in women's singles action Monday night. Mboko upset Gauff in straight sets Saturday, winning the lopsided match in just 62 minutes. There was no letdown Monday, even if Mboko fought a little harder to pull out the victory. After taking a back-and-forth — and error-filled — first set, Mboko lost on serve in a sluggish start to the second set but broke back in the fourth and sixth games to take a 4-2 advantage. The 18-year-old from Toronto held serve and broke once more, with Bouzas Maneiro's backhand sailing long on match point to lift the fans out of their seats after 77 minutes. Mboko is the first Canadian to reach the WTA 1000 event's semifinals since Bianca Andreescu's title run in 2019. She's also the youngest woman to reach the semis since Belinda Bencic's 2015 win in Toronto. Bouzas Maneiro, ranked 51st, was also playing in the quarterfinals of a 1000-level tournament for the first time. In a breakthrough year, Mboko has surged from outside the top 300 to a career-high No. 85 in the world rankings. That number is projected to climb to at least No. 55, according to WTA live rankings. The last Canadian remaining in singles, Mboko has made a name for herself at home, her powerful ball-striking on full display in her first National Bank Open main draw. She will meet Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina in Wednesday's semifinals. The ninth-seeded Rybakina advanced after Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk was forced to retire with an apparent arm injury while trailing 6-1, 2-1 earlier Monday night. After two injury-plagued years, Mboko — who had shown promise as a junior — opened the season with a 22-match win streak and captured five titles on the lower-tier ITF Tour. She then qualified for her first Grand Slam main draw at the French Open, reaching the third round, before stunning 25th seed Magdalena Frech in the first round at Wimbledon. And the upsets keep coming. In Montreal, Mboko has rattled off wins over 79th-ranked Kimberly Birrell, 23rd seed Sofia Kenin, 39th-ranked Marie Bouzkova and Gauff, the world No. 2. Her latest victory boosts her record to 25-8 against higher-ranked players and 51-9 in all competitions. Buzzing in anticipation, the crowd rose to its feet for loud applause the moment Mboko emerged from the tunnel before the match. Neither player looked dialed in during the first set, as both competitors fired shots long and wide and wasted opportunities to break early. At 2-2, Mboko fell in a 40-15 hole, but ultimately took the prolonged game thanks to five service winners, regularly opening points with 180-kilometre per hour strikes. The Canadian then went up 40-0 with three chances to break before a series of errors, including a few mis-hits on her backhand, helped Bouzas Maneiro hold. Mboko retook a 40-0 advantage for three breakpoint opportunities while leading 4-3. This time, Bouzas Maneiro fired her shot into the net. Bouzas Maneiro broke back after Mboko made three unforced errors and double-faulted. Mboko, however, took the set with her second breakpoint when Bouzas Maneiro struck her forehand wide. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 4, 2025 Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
CBC
15 minutes ago
- CBC
Canadian military drops aid into Gaza
Aug. 4, 2025 | CBC News is there as a Canadian military plane drops aid into Gaza for the first time. Out-of-control wildfires force thousands from their homes. And rising tennis star Victoria Mboko stuns at the Canadian Open.
