Puisand Lai
 Lai at the 2024 Summer Paralympics | ||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Nationality |  Canada | |||||||||||||||||
| Born | July 29, 2000 Honolulu County, Hawaii | |||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 2 in (1.57 m) | |||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Wheelchair basketball | |||||||||||||||||
| Disability class | 1.0 | |||||||||||||||||
| Event | Women's team | |||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Puisand Lai (born July 29, 2000) is a Canadian wheelchair tennis and 1.0 point wheelchair basketball player. In 2018, she was part of the Canadian national women's wheelchair basketball team at the 2018 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Hamburg.
Biography
[edit]Puisand Lai was born in Honolulu County, Hawaii, on July 29, 2000.[1] When she was six years old, she was diagnosed with transverse myelitis, a rare neurological condition in which the spinal cord is inflamed.[2]
In October 2013, Lai joined the Mississauga Little Aces program, a project supported by Tennis Canada and run by Albert Fong of Mississagua Little Aces, which teaches tennis to children from ages six to sixteen, and children with disabilities from ages eight to nineteen. Lai was soon able to play with non-disabled children.[2]
In July 2014, she represented Tennis Canada in the International Tennis Federation Americas Junior Wheelchair Tennis Camp,[2] one of only three such camps worldwide.[3] By 2017, she was ranked 7th in the ITF rankings for girls' wheelchair tennis, and 73rd in the women's.[4] She was a member of Canada's 2017 World Team Cup junior team,[5] competing in Sardinia, Italy after the team earned a wild card spot from the International Tennis Federation.[6][7]
Lai also participated in sledge hockey, sailing and wheelchair basketball,[2] where she was classified as a 1.0 point player, and began playing competitively in 2014. She was noticed by Kathy Ludwig, the Ontario coach, who asked her to join Team Ontario. In 2018, she was part of the Canadian national women's wheelchair basketball team at the 2018 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Hamburg.[1]
As of 2018[update], she is studying engineering at McMaster University.[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Puisand Lai". Wheelchair Basketball Canada. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
- ^ a b c d "Wheelchair player a hit with Little Aces". Mississauga.com. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
- ^ Crenshaw Jr., Solomon (July 20, 2017). "Only three wheelchair tennis camps were held in the world. One recently at Lakeshore". Birmingham Times. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
- ^ "Wheelchair – Player Profile – Lai, Puisand (CAN)". ITF Tennis. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
- ^ "Canada's Puisand Lai dazzles on Day 1 of Birmingham Classic". Tennis Canada. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
- ^ Tennis Canada (May 1, 2017). "Ontario Athletes to Represent Team Canada in Wheelchair Tennis World Team Cup". Ontario Wheelchair Sports Association. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
- ^ "Team Canada sending quad and junior team to BNP Paribas World Team Cup in Italy". ISN Daily Digest. April 29, 2017. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
External links
[edit]- Puisand Lai at Wheelchair Basketball Canada
- Puisand Lai at the Canadian Paralympic Committee
- Puisand Lai at the International Paralympic Committee
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- 2000 births
- Living people
- Canadian women's wheelchair basketball players
- Paralympic wheelchair basketball players for Canada
- Wheelchair basketball players at the 2020 Summer Paralympics
- Wheelchair basketball players at the 2024 Summer Paralympics
- Wheelchair basketball players at the 2023 Parapan American Games
- Sportspeople at the 2019 Parapan American Games
- Medalists at the 2023 Parapan American Games
- Medalists at the 2019 Parapan American Games
- Sportspeople from Honolulu
- American emigrants to Canada