Wheelchair Rugby had its foundation in Canada in the year 1977 and the first National Championships took place in the year 1979. It was in the year 1989 that the first international tournament was held in Toronto featuring club teams from Canada, the USA and Great Britain. This was a step forward to develop international competition as well as co-operation. Wheelchair Rugby first made its appearance at the ISMWSF World Wheelchair Games in the year 1990 as a demonstration event.
Wheelchair Rugby applied for the status of an event in the Paralympics, which was attained in 1995. The next year Wheelchair Rugby was acknowledged as a demonstration sport at the Paralympic Games of Atlanta in 1996. As a full medal sport it made its first appearance in the Sydney 2000 Paralympics.
Wheelchair Rugby is a distinctive sport that merges some of the traits of Basketball, Handball, and Ice Hockey. The purpose of the game is to carry the ball over the opponent team's goal line. The player must have firm control of the ball and the two wheels must cross the goal line for a goal to count, as and when he or she crosses the line.
The player is allowed to carry the ball on the lap, but must pass between his team's players or bounce at least once for every ten seconds. If once a team has carried the ball forward across mid-court, they are not supposed to take it back. Just like Basketball, there is a key area at each end of the court. In the key area only three defending players are allowed and the players of the opposition are allowed for not more than ten seconds in the key.
Wheelchair Rugby is going to be one of the key highlights among the Events in 2008 Beijing Summer Paralympics Sports. The level of enthusiasm and vigor among the players is worth watching. The game comprises up of four eight-minute quarters; supplementary three-minute overtime periods may be played in case there is a tie. Each team has up to four players and eight substitute players. The most striking feature of the Wheelchair Rugby Sport in Paralympics is that physical contact between the players is not allowed.
Wheelchair Rugby is a sport meant for the quadriplegic (tetraplegic) male and female athletes. The players are classified into seven classes: 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0 and 3.5, according to their functional capability. Thus the players are assigned their classes according to their functional levels.
There are several off the court benchmarks used for determining the players' classification which are:
- Bench Test
- Functional Trunk Test
- Functional Movement Tests
2008 Beijing Summer Paralympics Sports is one of the key events of the year featuring a whole lot of fun and excitement and if you are on a tour to Beijing, then you should not miss out the fun and excitement at this gala event.
Flightshotelstours.com offers online information on Wheelchair Rugby.
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