(OTTAWA, ONT.) – Team Canada dropped a tight battle with Brazil 63-53 on Thursday at the IWBF Men’s Under-23 World Championship in São Paulo, Brazil.
Ibrahim Odza paced Canada with 19 points, six assists and two rebounds, while Brandon Louie chipped in nine points, six rebounds and three steals. Broden Nagle added nine points and four rebounds.
Canada outscored Brazil 16-13 in the third quarter and held a 44-43 lead entering the fourth, but the host nation pulled away in the final period.
“It was close into the fourth. I thought our guys came out and played with the emotion that I thought they would,” said Darrell Nordell, Team Canada’s Under-23 Head Coach. “We had a couple of good runs. We struggled a little bit on our defence at first and boxing out – it’s just the little things that we need to get better at.
“In the fourth, we had a couple of dry spells; the guys got their heads down. We’ve just got to go back to our principles.”
Team Canada finished 22 of 58 from the field while holding Brazil to 45 per cent shooting in the opener.
Canada trailed by two points, 30-28, at halftime. Odza paced Canada with 12 points through two periods. Jeffer Ward added four points and three rebounds, while Nasif Chowdhury had six rebounds and five assists at the break.
“Ibrahim’s poise and composure – he played exactly the way I thought he would,” Nordell said. “He pushed when he needed to push, but also his reads are excellent. He knows who to go to and who to lay off. His communication is good.”
Canada shot 12 of 32 from the field while limiting Brazil to 38 per cent shooting.
With his layup in the first quarter, Thai Milton registered his first international points with Team Canada.
Up next, Canada meets Türkiye on Saturday at 10 a.m. EDT/7 a.m. PDT. The game can be live streamed on the IWBF YouTube channel.
The IWBF Men’s Under-23 World Championship brings together the top 12 nations. Canada is competing in Group A alongside Australia, Israel, Germany, Türkiye and Brazil.
Traditionally held every four years, the tournament showcases the best young talent in the sport. Athletes must be 22 years of age or younger to be eligible to compete. This year marks the eighth edition of the event. Canada captured back-to-back gold medals in 1997 and 2001.
Complete stats from Thursday’s game can be found here. The tournament schedule and results can be found here.
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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.
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