Puisand Lai Explained

Headercolor:red
Textcolor:white
Puisand Lai
Birth Date:29 July 2000
Birth Place:Honolulu County, Hawaii
Height:5feet
Sport:Wheelchair basketball
Event:Women's team
Disability Class:1.0

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

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.

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.

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, 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.

, she is studying engineering at McMaster University.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Puisand Lai . Wheelchair Basketball Canada . September 2, 2018 .
  2. Web site: Wheelchair player a hit with Little Aces . Mississauga.com . September 2, 2018 .
  3. News: Crenshaw Jr. . Solomon . Only three wheelchair tennis camps were held in the world. One recently at Lakeshore . October 29, 2018 . Birmingham Times . July 20, 2017.
  4. Web site: Wheelchair – Player Profile – Lai, Puisand (CAN) . ITF Tennis . September 2, 2018 .
  5. Web site: Canada's Puisand Lai dazzles on Day 1 of Birmingham Classic . Tennis Canada . September 2, 2018 .
  6. News: Tennis Canada . Ontario Athletes to Represent Team Canada in Wheelchair Tennis World Team Cup . October 29, 2018 . Ontario Wheelchair Sports Association . May 1, 2017.
  7. News: Team Canada sending quad and junior team to BNP Paribas World Team Cup in Italy . October 29, 2018 . ISN Daily Digest . April 29, 2017.