Wheelchair Basketball

Published On: Mon, Mar 7th, 2011

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Wheelchair Basketball is one of the most popular sports at the Paralympic Games.

Did you know?

Top wheelchair basketball players use specially-designed titanium chairs that cost more than £3,500 and can last for as little as six months during periods of high-level competition.
Athletes with different disabilities compete together in wheelchair basketball. Each player is given a classification that equates to a certain number of points, and each team is required to have a specified minimum points total.
Wheelchair Basketball was promoted worldwide by Sir Ludwig Guttman, founder of the Paralympic Games.

Key facts

Venue: North Greenwich Arena and Basketball Arena
Dates: Thursday 30 August – Saturday 8 September
Gold medals up for grabs: 2
Athletes: 264 (144 men, 120 women)

Played by two teams of five, the dynamic sport is played to rules that are broadly similar to Basketball, with the same size court and basket height.

As with Olympic Basketball, one point is scored for a successful free-throw, two for a normal field basket and three for a shot made from behind the arc of the three-point line.

Players move the ball around the court by passing or dribbling, and are required to throw or bounce the ball after every two pushes of the wheels on their chairs to avoid being penalised for ‘travelling’. Players are assigned a point value based on their functional ability, from 0.5 (the most severely disabled) to 4.5; the total point value for a team should not exceed 14 at any point during a game.

Wheelchair Basketball at the Games

Wheelchair Basketball was part of the first Paralympic Games in Rome in 1960, and has been an integral part of the programme ever since.

Australia, Canada, the USA and Great Britain are traditionally the strongest teams.

Get involved

There are plenty of opportunities to play Wheelchair Basketball around the UK, with players of all backgrounds enjoying this fast and skilful sport.

Find out more by contacting the Great Britain Wheelchair Basketball Association or by visiting the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation

Learn more about how to get involved on the Parasport website. You could also visit the sites of Paralympic Sport TV and the International Paralympic Committee.

The Active Places website also allows you to search for facilities in England.

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About the Author

tony - London 2012’s ambition is to create a Games for everyone, where everyone is invited to take part, join in and enjoy the most exciting event in the world. London 2012 will create the most accessible and participative Games. It will touch people as it has never done before, stimulating people to do more and to try new things and reassess what we are all capable of. London 2012 has sport at its heart and London at the centre, but it is more than London and more than sport. It is a Games for London, the UK and the rest of the world, for sport and culture, for volunteers and business.