Last weekend, the IWBF Executive Council held their second meeting of the year in Hamburg, Germany, the city which is set to host the IWBF Wheelchair Basketball World Championships in 2018.

The meeting took place over two days (Saturday 11^th and Sunday 12^th November), with all thirteen members, representing the four zones, present. Secretary General Maureen Orchard was also present.

A broad range of topics were discussed at the meeting, including official 3×3 competition format, the formulation of strategic development of the sport, as well as the continued efforts to professionalise the Federation and its work.

Furthermore, two new appointments were accepted by the board; Hans Tucker was confirmed as a new member of the Competition Commission and Charlie Bethel was appointed as Technical Delegate for the 2018 Wheelchair Basketball World Championships.

The Executive Council meeting also saw an exchange of representatives from FIBA. It was the last meeting for Gabriel Zangenfeind, who has been working part-time for IWBF since 2015 as part of FIBA’s ongoing support to assist IWBF, he moves on to a new role at the World Anti-Doping Agency. IWBF would like to wish Gabriel all the best in the future and thank him for all the work he has done over the past two years.

Replacing Mr Zangenfeind as IWBF’s contact at FIBA will be Kosta Iliev. IWBF welcomed Mr Iliev, who is a longstanding friend of wheelchair basketball, to his first meeting with the Executive Council, and looks forward to continuing to work in close collaboration with him and FIBA.

The Executive Council were also able to experience the city of Hamburg. With the current planning of the World Championships well underway, IWBF’s Secretary General Maureen Orchard, Deputy Secretary General Norbert Kucera and Chairman of the Competition Commission Charlie Bethel visited the office of the Local Organising Committee (LOC), where they held very useful meetings with LOC Managing Directors Peter Richarz and Tony Kahlfeldt.