USA Wheelchair Rugby Gain Bronze at World Championship

2018 GIO Wheelchair Rugby World Championship

The 2018 GIO Wheelchair Rugby World Championship was won by Japan with a 62-61 victory over previously undefeated Australia. The USA claimed the bronze medal with a 47-36 win over Great Britain. The tournament was held in Sydney, Australia from August 5-10, 2018.

After Pool play, Australia and the United States, the top two teams in the world, went 5-0 in winning their respective pools with Japan and Great Britain in second.

In the semifinals, 4th ranked Japan defeated the USA 51-46 to advance to the Gold medal match against Australia, who edged Great Britain 59-57. The USA would face Great Britain, a team that they defeated 47-41 in pool play, for the Bronze. The Gold medal match was also a repeat of a pool play one in which Australia won 65-52 against Japan.

Conclusion

The 2018 GIO IWRF World Championships proved to be very competitve. Three of the four top ranked teams made the semi-finals with 5th ranked Great Britain also making the final group. Canada entered the Worlds ranked 3rd, but fielded a young team and finished in 6th place.

The medalists all had one loss in the tournament. Japan came in second in Pool play to Australia, but then defeated previously undefeated USA in the semifinals and then Australia, who was also undefeated, in the Gold medal match.

France had a strong performance in the tournament, edging Canada for 5th place. Ireland was the only team that did not win a match, but they had competive matches against Sweden and against Poland.

The International Wheelchair Rugby Federation has to be pleased with the competive nature of the tournament. Aside from the top few teams, the standard of play for other teams has risen dramatically. That was apparent early in the tournament with Canada losing to Poland.

Pools with IWRF World Rankings (As of June 19)

  • A: Australia (1), Japan (4), Sweden (6), New Zealand (9), Denmark (8), Ireland (19)
  • B: USA (2), Canada (3), Great Britain (5), France (7), Colombia (14), Poland (17)

Schedule (Sydney is 14 hours ahead of ET in New York)

Quaycentre (Competition Court 1) Genea Netball Centre (Competition Court 2)
Sunday 05 August Sunday 05 August
12:30 Opening Ceremony
14:00 M1 NZL 36-66 AUS 14:30 M2 IRE 37-57 JPN
16:30 M3 CAN 42-51FRA 17:00 M4 SWE 54-57 DEN
19:00 M5 COL 32-58 USA 19:00 M6 POL-GBR
Monday 06 August Monday 06 August
11:00 M8 DEN 56-47 IRE 10:00 M7 JPN 56-37 NZL
13:30 M10 USA 47-41GBR 12:30 M9 AUS 71-38 SWE
16:00 M12 POL 45-43 CAN 15:30 M11 COL 45-50 FRA
18:30 M14 IRE 47-52 SWE 18:00 M13 DEN 55-54 NZL
Tuesday  07 August Tuesday  07 August
11:00 M16 GBR 55-43 CAN 10:00 M15 COL 50-43 POL
13:30 M18 DEN 49-61 AUS 12:30 M17 FRA 39-54 USA
16:00 M20 SWE 46-48 JPN 15:30 M19 NZL 52-42 IRE
18:30 M22 FRA 51-39 POL 18:00 M21 GBR 57-20 COL
Wednesday 08 August Wednesday 08 August
10:00 M23 AUS 70-44 IRE 10:00 M24 JPN 52-42 DEN
12:30 M25 USA 47-33 POL 12:30 M26 CAN 59-46 COL
16:00 M27 SWE 54-52 NZL 16:00 M28 GBR 47-41 FRA
18:30 M29 AUS 65-52 JPN 18:30 M30 USA 54-47 CAN
Thursday 09 August Thursday 09 August
11:00 M31 NZL 59-61 COL 10:30 M32 POL 49-44 IRE
13:00 M33 DEN 51-51 CAN 13:00 M34 FRA 54-42 SWE
16:00 M35 AUS 59-57 GBR 15:30 M36 USA 46-51 JPN
Friday 10 August Friday 10 August
9:30 M37 11th COL 39-44 POL 9:30 M38 9th NZL 51-40 IRE
11:30 M39 5th CAN 51-52 FRA 11:30 M40 7th DEN 51-48 SWE
13:45 M41 Bronze Medal           GBR 36-47 USA
16:00 M42 Gold Medal               AUS 61-62 JPN

 

USA Schedule (Times EDT)

  • Tournament Preview
  • Sunday 05 August 5:00 am v Colombia W 58-32
  • Sunday 05 August 9:00 pm v Great Britain W 47-41
  • Monday 06 August 10:30 pm v France W 54-39
  • Tuesday 07 August 10:30 pm v Poland W 47-33
  • Wednesday 08 August 4:30 am v Canada W 54-47
  • Thursday 09 August Semifinals v Japan L 51-46
  • Thursday 09 August Bronze Medal v Great Britain W 47-36

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North American Rugby News With A USA Slant