U.S. Paralympics News Four Of The Sports I...

Four Of The Sports In Which The U.S. Will Look To Defend Their Parapan American Titles

By Melissa Zhang | Aug. 13, 2019, 12:06 p.m. (ET)

Four years ago, Americans claimed the top spot on the podium in various team and individual sports at the Parapan American Games Toronto 2015. The U.S. women's sitting volleyball team, American table tennis players, and the U.S. wheelchair basketball teams will be among those seeking to defend their titles this summer at the 2019 Parapan American Games in Lima, Peru. Take a look at some of the gold-medal winners from Toronto and their performances from 2015:

Sitting volleyball (women's)

The U.S. Women's Sitting Volleyball Team defeated Brazil 25-20, 25-22, 25-15 in Toronto to win the first-ever women's sitting volleyball title at the Parapan American Games. The women, ranked third in the world, went undefeated in five matches at the 2015 Parapans and denied their opponents from winning a single set. They earned gold on day seven of the Games, the second-to-last day of competition.

Table tennis: Tahl Leibovitz (men's singles class 9) Tahl Leibovitz of Team USA competes in table tennis at the Parapan American Games Toronto 2015.
Tahl Leibovitz (Queens, New York) won not only the men's singles class 9 title in 2015, but also won gold in men's singles at the Parapan American Games in 2011 and 2007. Leibovitz faced Mexico's Ariff Vazquez in Toronto, jumping out to a quick two-set lead, but then lost momentum and rallied back in the fifth set to earn the title and continue his dominance at the Parapan American Games.

Wheelchair basketball (women's)

The women battled host country Canada in the gold-medal match on Aug. 14, 2015. A close match across all four quarters, Team USA's Rose Hollerman (Mankato, Minnesota) scored a tournament-high 37 points to lead the Americans to a 80-72 win. Her teammate, Becca Murray (Richfield, Wisconsin), logged 16 points.

Wheelchair basketball (men's)
The U.S. men's wheelchair basketball team celebrates at the Parapan American Games Toronto 2015.
The U.S. men claimed gold on the final day of the Parapan American Games Toronto 2015 with a final score of 62-39 against Canada in the championship game. The Americans scored the first points of the game and kept up their momentum to lead the Canadians by 24 points at halftime. Mike Paye (Warren, Michigan) led Team USA in scoring, with 14 points, as Josh Turek (Council Bluffs, Iowa) and Brian Bell (Birmingham, Alabama) each added 12 to the team's victory.