OTTAWA, ONT. (August 17, 2025) – Team Canada closed out group play at the 2025 IWBF Americas Cup with a 58–38 victory over Venezuela on Sunday in Bogotá, Colombia.
With the win, Canada will face Mexico in the quarterfinals on Monday at 4:15 p.m. EDT / 1:15 p.m. PDT.
Ibrahim Odza led the way for the Senior Men’s National Team (SMNT), scoring 16 points on 6-for-15 shooting, including a pair of three-pointers. Blaise Mutware added 12 points and eight rebounds, while Colin Higgins chipped in 11 points and seven rebounds.
“I think each game, as a group, we’re improving,” said Kyrell Sopotyk. “We like to see that. Everyone is getting used to playing with each other, getting to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses – we’re growing and gelling together.
“I think moving forward, we just want to focus on our execution and shooting – we’re getting lots of good looks, so if we can finish our shots, we’re going to look good out there.”
Broden Nagle added eight points and five rebounds off the bench, and Josh Brown, one of six athletes making his SMNT debut in Bogota, scored his first points with the Senior National Team on Sunday.
Team Canada limited Venezuela to 38 per cent shooting and converted 23 Venezuelan turnovers into 18 points in the victory.
“We had some things to focus on going into the game,” Sopotyk added. “We focused on our defence, making a lot of chair contact to go along with our communication. I think we did that well today.”
Canada’s biggest run of the game came in the third quarter, when they strung together a 10–0 stretch, including six points from Odza, to push the lead to 41-19, heading into the fourth quarter.
Team Canada outscored Venezuela 11-4 in the second period and held a 26-10 advantage at the break.
Higgins led Canada’s offence with nine points and seven rebounds. Mutware added eight points on 4-of-10 shooting, while Odza poured in five points and three assists.
Canada scored 10 points off Venezuelan turnovers and defensively limited their opponent to 19 per cent shooting from the field through two quarters.
Canada went on a 6-0 run to jump out to a 10-2 lead and led 15-6 after one quarter.
The Americas Cup is a qualification tournament for the 2026 IWBF Wheelchair Basketball World Championships, which will take place in Ottawa, Ont., from Sept. 9–19, 2026. The top three teams in the men’s division will earn direct qualification for Ottawa 2026, and the fourth- and fifth-place teams will advance to the Repechage.
As the host nation, Canada has already qualified for the 2026 World Championships. The SMNT won bronze at the 2022 IWBF Americas Cup in São Paulo, Brazil.
Complete statistics from Sunday’s game against Venezuela can be accessed here.
Select images from the 2025 IWBF Americas Cup are available through the IWBF here.
About Wheelchair Basketball Canada
Wheelchair Basketball Canada (WBC) is the national sports governing body responsible for the organization of the sport in Canada. It is a non-profit, charitable organization committed to excellence in developing, supporting, and promoting wheelchair basketball programs and services from grassroots to high performance for all Canadians. Wheelchair basketball is a fast-paced, hard-hitting, competitive sport in which Canada is held in high esteem worldwide for winning six gold, one silver, and one bronze medal over the last nine Paralympic Games. WBC will host the 2026 IWBF Wheelchair Basketball World Championships from September 9-19, 2026.
For more information on WBC, please visit Wheelchairbasketball.ca, or follow along via social media on Facebook, X, and Instagram.
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Media contact:
Dhiren Mahiban
Communications & Digital Media Manager
Wheelchair Basketball Canada
C: 416-574-6682
dmahiban@wheelchairbasketball.ca