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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