Six Queensland players have been named in the two Australian squads that will compete in the Asia Pacific Oceania Powerchair Football (APO) Cup this week.
Tristam Peters, Josh Merkas and Bryce Castles have been selected for the Australian Poweroos while Jesse McCarthy, Jack Parry and Sam Uchytil will represent Australia in the Under 21 team.
Kicking off this Wednesday, 23 October and running until Friday, 25 October at the Quay Centre in Sydney Olympic Park, the APO Cup will see Australia, New Zealand, Japan and an invitational Australian Under 21 team compete to determine who will take the final place at the FIPFA (Federation Internationale de Powerchair Football Association) 2021 World Cup, which Australia has already qualified for.
The inaugural APO Cup, which took place in 2013, saw Australia and Japan submit two teams each with Australia placing second and fourth respectively. Since then, the countries have only played each other once, in the 2017 World Cup Quarter Finals where Australia triumphed in a 2-1 win.
At this year’s APO Cup, Australia and Japan will be joined by New Zealand, who will look to make their mark as they participate in their first FIPFA-sanctioned event.
The APO Cup matches will be livestreamed on the Asia Pacific Oceania Powerchair Football Association Facebook page.
Watch the APO Cup livestreamed matches here.
See full squad lists and APO Cup draw below.
POWEROOS SQUAD FOR 2019 APO CUP:
Dimitri Liolio-Davis (NSW) (c)
Tristram Peters (QLD) – Lions FC
Chris Turnbull (NSW)
Jordan Crane (NSW)
Abdullah Karim (NSW)
Josh Merkas (QLD) (vc) – Brisbane Strikers FC
Bryce Castles (QLD) – Brisbane City FC
Andrew Kim (NSW)
Tristram Peters, photo by Diane Conaghan
Josh Merkas, photo by Diane Conaghan
Bryce Castles, photo by Diane Conaghan
AUSTRALIA U21 SQUAD FOR 2019 APO CUP:
Jessie McCarthy (QLD) (c) – Brisbane City FC
Rebecca Evans (WA) (vc)
Matt Mallows (NSW)
Ryan Seck (NSW)
Jack Parry (QLD) – Brisbane Strikers FC
Sam Uchytil (QLD) – Brisbane Strikers FC
Jesse McCarthy, photo by Michelle Coles
Jack Parry, photo by Michelle Coles
Sam Uchytil, photo by Michelle Coles
2019 APO CUP DRAW:
*please note below match times are in AEDT (Sydney local time)
Wednesday, 23 October
10:30am: Australia v New Zealand
11:30am: U21 v Japan
2:30pm: Australia v U21
3:30pm: New Zealand v Japan
Thursday, 24 October
10:30am: U21 v New Zealand
11:30am: Australia v Japan
2:30pm: Australia v New Zealand
3:30pm: U21 v Japan
Friday, 25 October
10:30am: U21 v Australia
11:30am: Japan v New Zealand
2:30pm: Australia v Japan
3:30pm: U21 v New Zealand
Words: Vivien Topalovic