Seventeen Abbotsford athletes have been selected to represent B.C. at the Western Canada Summer Games, which run Aug. 5-14 in Kamloops.
Wrestlers highlight the local contingent, as five male grapplers have been named to provincial team. Jobanjit Phulka (76 kg), Amanveer Kaler (58 kg), Matt Dignan (54 kg), Navdeep Dhillon (42 kg) and Rajin Gill (85 kg) will hit the mats in Kamloops.
The city’s growing strength in rugby will be showcased, as Graham Hawkins, Spencer Loughlin and Spencer Miller have been picked for the provincial boys squad.
A pair of local athletes from Twisters Gymnastics Club, Nicolas Garfias and Andrew Schmidt, will also make the trip to Westerns. Garfias was named B.C.’s outstanding high performance gymnast in 2010.
In track and field, Abbotsford will be represented by hurdles/triple jump star Aisha Klippenstein, a double medallist at high school provincials in June, and javelin thrower Tiffany Perkins, who was 11th at the World Junior Championships last summer.
The trio of Alexis Johnston, Brianna Loewen and Taylor Lundrigan will suit up for the B.C. women’s softball team, while Tyler Klassen has cracked the roster for the B.C. softball men.
Rosie Johanson, one of Canada’s rising young tennis stars, rounds out the local contingent.
The last time the Western Games were held in B.C. was 1995 in Abbotsford.