USA Wheelchair Rugby Seeks Qualification for Paralympics in Rio
By Theo BrennanUSA Wheelchair Rugby Seeks Qualification for Paralympics in Rio
The USA Wheelchair Rugby team travels to Paris, France for the IWRF Rio Qualification Tournament. The top 2 teams advance to Paralympics in Rio held September 4-18, 2016.
The teams ranked currently by the International Wheelchair Rugby Federation include #2 USA, #7 Denmark, host #8 France, #9 Germany, #10 New Zealand, and #12 Finland.They play each other prior to the knockout finals.
The objective of wheelchair rugby is for a player to carry a ball across the opponent’s goal line in order to score a point. A volleyball is used and must be bounced or passed between teammates at least once every 10 seconds during play. The sport is played in four eight-minute stop-time quarters indoors on a basketball court. All players are classified based on their abilities from 0.5 to 3.5 points. Four players from each team are allowed on the court at a time and the classification value between them cannot exceed eight points.
Paralympic wheelchair rugby competition is open to male and female athletes with physical disabilities such as amputation/limb loss, spinal cord injury/wheelchair-users and cerebral palsy/brain injury/stroke.
Wheelchair Rugby is a simple game with complex strategies for playing both offense and defense. It is played with a volleyball on a basketball-size court with goal lines marked by cones and a lined-off “key” area (see diagram).
The object of the game is to score a goal (1 point) by crossing the goal line with possession of the ball while the opposing team is defending that goal. The team with the most points when time runs out wins.