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WCL names team members for 2023 Senior Pan-American Championships

April 25, 2023

OTTAWA — Wrestling Canada Lutte (WCL) is proud to announce the 23 athletes, along with coaches, support staff and officials, that will represent Canada at the 2023 Senior Pan-American (Pan-Am) Championships, May 3-6, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The 2023 team features many reigning and past national champions, along with numerous international medalists. In total, seven different provinces are represented with Ontario leading the way with eight representatives.

“Wrestling Canada Lutte is sending a strong team to the 2023 Pan-American Championships.  We have athletes who are World and Pan-American medalists, including three previous World Champions. We also have a few newcomers who will be experiencing their first international senior competition,” said Chris Woodcroft, WCL High Performance Director. “This event will provide valuable lessons in our lead up to the Senior World Championships, in September in Belgrade, Serbia, as the 2023 Senior World Championships are our first Olympic qualifier on our road to Paris 2024.”

Leading the way on the women’s side is four-time Pan-Am Championships gold medalist (2015-17, 2020), 2019 Pan-Am Games gold medalist, and 2018 World Champion Justina Di Stasio. In 2022, Di Stasio, from Burnaby, BC, and the Burnaby Mountain WC, continued to add to her impressive resume. She captured gold at the Commonwealth Games and a bronze at the Pan-Am Championships. She will look to continue her momentum with another medal at these Championships as she sets her sights on qualifying for the 2024 Olympics.

Two more past world champions will also represent the maple leaf with U23 Champions Alex Town (2018) and Ana Godinez Gonzalez (2021) competing. Town, from Toronto and London-Western WC, comes into the event after taking gold at the 2023 Ibrahim Moustafa Ranking Series earlier this year. Meanwhile, Godinez Gonzalez, from Surrey, BC, and Burnaby Mountain WC, capped an impressive 2022 with a silver at the Commonwealth Games and bronze at the U23 Worlds.

On the men’s side, one of the big success stories from 2022 was Nishan Randhawa. Randhawa, from Abbotsford, BC, and Burnaby Mountain WC had a strong performance and captured gold at the Commonwealth Games. Randhawa is a former junior Pan-Am gold and senior Pan-Am bronze medalist and will look to return to the podium in 2023.

He’ll be joined by a trio of bronze medalists from those same Commonwealth Games who will all be looking for medals at the Pan-Ams. The list includes: Darth Capellan, from Coquitlam, BC, and Burnaby Mountain WC; Jasmit Phulka, from Abbotsford, BC, and Burnaby Mountain WC; and Alex Moore, from Montreal and the Montreal NTC.

Accompanying the athletes is the team’s coaching and support staff led by Woodcroft. The coaches include: Dave McKay, Dave Collie, Dave Spinney, Owen Dawkins and Raj Virdi. The athletic therapist will be Jessica Pawlik. Canada will also have five officials at the event including: Ed Zinger, Marcia Chiasson, Demetra Koutsopodiotis-Gathier, Curtis Leung and Gary Bird.

For more information on the 2023 Senior Pan-American Championships or to follow Canada’s athletes during the event, visit: https://uww.org/event/pan-american-championships-17

2023 Senior Pan-American Championships Team

Weight Class Name Hometown Club
WW 50 kg PARKS, Madi Komoka, ON London-Western WC
WW 53 kg STEWART, Samantha Fredericton, NB Black Bears WC
WW 55 kg WEICKER, Diana Thorold, ON Brock WC
WW 57 kg TAYLOR, Hannah Summerside, PEI Brock WC
WW 59 kg TOWN, Alex Toronto, ON London-Western WC
WW 62 kg GODINEZ GONZALEZ, Ana Surrey, BC Burnaby Mountain WC
WW 65 kg NICKEL, Aleah Swift Current, SK Edmonton WC
WW 68 kg DI BACCO, Olivia Orillia, ON Brock WC
WW 72 kg MULKAY, Katie Sherwood Park, AB Edmonton WC
WW 76 kg DI STASIO, Justina Burnaby, BC Burnaby Mountain WC
   
FS 57 kg CAPELLAN, Darthe Coquitlam, BC Burnaby Mountain WC
FS 61 kg LUNEAU, Jason St-Lazare, QC Montreal NTC
FS 65 kg ALEXANDER TORRES, Jacob Coquitlam, BC Burnaby Mountain WC
FS 70 kg QUINTON, Connor Kingston, ON Kingston WC
FS 74 kg THOMSON, Adam Komoka, ON London-Western WC
FS 79 kg PHULKA, Jasmit Abbotsford, BC Burnaby Mountain WC
FS 86 kg MOORE, Alex Montreal, QC Montreal NTC
FS 92 kg POIRIER, Jeremy Montreal, QC Montreal NTC
FS 97 kg RANDHAWA, Nishan Abbotsford, BC Burnaby Mountain WC
FS 125 kg MAHIL, Karanveer Mississauga, ON Hamilton WC
   
GR 72 kg SANDERSON, Cole Prince Albert, SK Saskatoon WC
GR 82 kg YEATS, John Montreal, QC Tritton Performance
GR 87 kg NARLIDIS, Ioannis Toronto, ON Central Toronto WC