The squad received 58 per cent of the vote on the IPC's Facebook poll to beat Brazilian swimmer Daniel Dias, American athlete Chelsea McClammer, Argentinean wheelchair tennis player Gustavo Fernandez, Mexican swimmer Luis Andrade Guillen and the Brazilian men's sitting volleyball team.

After winning just one of its three preliminary round matches in Mexico last month, Colombia barely escaped Argentina with a one-point win in the quarter-finals thanks to 22 points by Rodney Hawkins and 18 points by Nelson Jaime Sanz.

Then came the big upset in the semi-final as Colombia finished defeated the mighty Canada 69-58 to earn an unlikely place in the finals.

Colombia, coached by John Asprilla, then fell to United States in the gold-medal contest by 60-40 but it was irrelevant as the players secured their dream of competing at London 2012 by making it to the gold medal match.

It marked a strong performance for Colombia at the Pan American Games as the country finished sixth on the overall medal table with 18 gold, 23 silver and 13 bronze medals.

Colombia are only the second team to win the IPC Athlete of the Month award this year after Italy's ice sledge hockey European Championship team win the prize in February.

Every other month, the prize has been taken by an individual.

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