OTTAWA— Wrestling Canada Lutte (WCL) and the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) are pleased to announce Team Canada’s wrestling team nominated to compete at the Junior Pan-American Games (Dec. 1-4) in Cali, Colombia.

The four athletes qualified for Team Canada based on their performances from the 2021 Junior Pan-American Championships and other ranking criteria.

On the women’s side, the team features Ajax, Ontario’s Nyla Burgess who will compete at 68kg. Burgess, 19 and from Team Impact Wrestling Club, captured gold earlier this year at the 2021 Junior Pan-American Championships in Mexico. In addition, Burgess won silver at the 2018 Ranking for Youth Olympic Games, and bronze at both the 2019 and 2017 Cadets Pan-American Championships. With numerous international successes, Burgess will be hoping to add another medal to her collection in Cali.

Joining Burgess is another medalist from the recent Junior Pan-American Championships – Barrie, Ontario’s Bronwyn MacGregor. MacGregor, 17 from the Kempenfelt Bay Wrestling Club, captured bronze at the event in the 57kg weight class. Now, she will be looking improve on that success.

The men’s side will see Toronto’s Dechlan Papadopoulos compete at 57kg. Papadopoulos, 19 and from Team Impact Wrestling Club, was a bronze medalist earlier this year at the Junior and Cadet Pan-American Championships. He also holds a silver from the 2019 Cadet Pan-American Championships and bronze from the 2017 event.

Rounding out the squad is Montreal’s Jason-Guy Luneau. Luneau, 20 and from the Montreal Wrestling Club, recently represented Canada at the U23 World Championships in Serbia, after winning his division at the World Team Trials this past September. He will compete at 65kg in Cali.

Accompanying the athletes are Kimin Kim, WCL NextGen coach, and coach Ken Burgess.

“Dechlan and Nyla are veterans of the Pan-Am Championships with impeccable records,” said Kim. “They have medaled at the past three Championships, including this year’s. Bronwyn’s third at the 2021 event was as an underage wrestler, which shows her excellent work ethic. As for Jason, he placed second at the Junior Canadian Championships in 2019, but due to the pandemic, was sidelined until the U23 World Team Trials and U23 World Championship in November. I am very excited to be leading this Team Canada delegation.”

Prior to being named to Team Canada, all nominations are subject to approval by the Canadian Olympic Committee’s Team Selection Committee following its receipt of nominations by all National Sport Organizations.

More information on the Junior Pan-American Games wrestling event can be found here. For more on all of Team Canada for the Junior Pan-American Games click here.