Abbotsford athletes have scored gold medals early at the Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games.
Abbotsford’s Lana Dueck and Lucienne Romeo were part of a historic win for Team BC in the first-ever women’s rugby 7s event.
The tournament wrapped up on Wednesday (Aug. 10), with BC defeating Ontario 22-7 in the semi-final and then blanking Quebec 38-0 to win the gold.
Team BC scored 1:19 into the first half on a run by Sienna Stignant. That try was followed by one from Katie Foss to help BC lead 12-0 at the half. They added to the lead by scoring 26 consecutive points to end the game with a 38-0 victory. The remaining try’s were scored by Adia Pye (two), Skye Farish, and Katie Foss. Romeo added the converts.
It was the debut for the sport at the Canada Summer Games.
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“It feels surreal,” Romeo said. “This is our first competition together and it’s just awesome. We just had the best time ever together.“
Head coach Darcy Patterson it was a special win for the group.
“It’s been a little long time coming, and so it’s really great to be able to experience this with this group of athletes,” she said. “They just like to have fun, and when they’re having fun you know that they’re going out there and play well.”
BC went a perfect 4-0 in preliminary play, opening with a 36-5 win over PEI and a 26-5 win over Quebec on Monday (Aug. 8). They then defeated Newfoundland 59-0 and Manitoba 51-0 on Tuesday (Aug. 9).
Abbotsford’s Rupinder Johal, who was also the Team BC flag bearer at the opening ceremonies, and Mikaela Trolland have both also earned a gold medal in the team wrestling competition.
The pair and their Team BC teammates went undefeated in competition on Tuesday and Wednesday, defeating the Yukon Territory 49-0, blanking Newfoundland 50-0 and beating Quebec 43-5 on Tuesday. They closed out the preliminary round with a 43-5 win over New Brunswick and a 35-15 win over Saskatchewan.
BC then defeated Ontario 27-22 in the final on Wednesday.
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“I’m so proud of all the girls who worked really hard for the past couple of months and I’m really happy on how we performed off and on the mat,” Johal said. “It is an amazing experience to be here with the team and winning gold. I’m so proud of them and I think we did an amazing job.”
Head coach Sukhan Chahal said Johal was crucial to the team’s success.
“Rupinder at the end, she’s our leader, our flag bearer, and we knew she could bring it home,” he said. “When some of our girls lost she was awesome at getting the group together and getting their spirits up.”
Johal continues in the individual competition today (Aug. 11) and battles for a gold medal in her 79 kilograms division.
Abbotsford’s Tejvir Dhinsa, Jagvir Grewal and Humraj Sandher also all earned silver in the team wrestling competition.
BC went a perfect 5-0 in preliminary competition, but then fell 32-16 to Ontario in the final on Wednesday. BC beat Nunavut 44-4, PEI 44-3 and Manitoba 35-9 on Tuesday. They followed that up with 35-12 and 25-21 win over New Brunswick and Quebec respectively on Wednesday.
Sandher competes for an individual gold medal in his 76 kg weight class today, while Dhinsa and Grewal both compete for bronze medal in their weight classes.
Team BC has so far collected 42 medals and sits in second place behind Ontario. For more information, visit teambc.org.
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