Local roundup: Spot on Canada's Olympic wrestling team eludes MacDonald, Morais
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Windsor’s Jessica MacDonald and Tecumseh’s Linda Morais came up short in their quest for a spot on Canada’s Olympic wrestling team.
The two former world champions were unable to secure spots at the Pan-American Olympic Qualification Tournament in Ottawa back in March of 2020.
The two had one final shot at earning a spot as part of Canada’s 11-athlete team at the World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Bulgaria and needed a top-two finish to secure a spot.
A 2019 world champion, the 27-year-old Morais just missed a spot in Montreal, which also required a top-two finish at that event to secure a berth, but lost in the semifinals.
Competing in the women’s freestyle division at 57kg in Bulgaria, Morais beat Turkey’s Bediha Gun 10-0 in her qualification match, but was unable to reach the quarter-finals after falling 12-2 to Norway’s Grace Bullen in her second match.
A 2012 world champion, the 35-year-old MacDonald also lost her semifinal match in Ottawa. She was competing in the women’s 50kg division in Bulgaria, but dropped her first match 4-0 to Sweden’s Emma Malmgren.
That leaves Tecumseh’s Jordie Steen, who was an alternate at the 2016 Olympic Games, as the lone area representative in wresting for this summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo. He won a silver medal in Ottawa in the men’s 97kg division.
Track and field
Four former University of Windsor Lancers hoping to earn an Athletics Canada spot at this summer’s Olympic Games were in action on Sunday.
Two-time Olympian Melissa Bishop-Niragu, who cleared a major hurdle last week by meeting the Olympic standard in the women’s 800 metres, improved on that performance a week later at USATF Golden Games in Walnut, CA Sunday by finishing third in a season-best time of one minutes and 58.61 seconds.
Sarah Mitton, who is from Brooklyn, N.S., also made standard once again with a fourth-place finish in the women’s shot put with a toss of 18.55 metres.
Belle River’s Noelle Montcalm, who was a member of Canada’s 2016 Olympic team, had a season-best performance in the women’s 400-metre hurdles with an eighth-place finish in 57.52 seconds.
Windsor’s Corey Bellemore placed sixth in the B final of the men’s 1,500 metres in a time of 3:46.05.
Little League baseball
It was sad news for local ballplayers on Monday as Little League Canada announced all national tournaments in baseball and softball for 2021 are being cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“We had hoped that the situation with the pandemic would get better in time for removal of many of the restrictions we are under with COVID-19,” Little League president and regional director Roy Bergerman said in a release. “Our primary responsibility is the safety of the children and volunteers in our programs across the country, so all decisions must be based upon that.
“While our national tournaments were not scheduled until late July and August, it is clear at this juncture that it will be logistically impossible to hold these tournaments while following the necessary health and safety guidelines. The cancellation of the tournaments at the national (level) does not preclude local leagues and districts from holding a regular season, however modified and if desired, district and provincial tournaments if safety plans are deemed fit and they follow national, provincial and local health advisories.”
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