Fourteen men’s teams and four women’s teams are set to compete at the IWBF Asia Oceania qualification tournament for the World Championships 2018 in Hamburg.
The tournament will take place in the Chinese Paralympic Training Venue in Beijing, China between the 21st October – 29th October 2017.
The men’s competition has been bolstered by the development of the sport across the Middle East and South West Asia. Afghanistan, Australia, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Kuwait, New Zealand, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and United Arab Emirates will participate in the race for the four places available to the Asia Oceania Zone’s men’s teams at the World Championships next year.
In the women’s tournament, Australia, China, Iran and Japan will compete for the two spots in Hamburg next summer. China, who claimed the zone’s only spot at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games where they finished sixth, will be hoping that home advantage will help them secure one of the two spots against tough competition from both their familiar opponents of Australia and Japan, whilst Iran will be an unknown quantity as they make their debut at an Asia Oceania Zone qualifying tournament.
President of IWBF Asia Oceania, Saad Alazma, said, “The Asia Oceania Zone qualifying tournament has seen strong support from across the region with fourteen men’s and four women’s teams entered. It is really exciting to see the growth of wheelchair basketball in the region.”
