The zonal qualification spots for the wheelchair basketball competitions at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games have been confirmed.
In March 2018 IWBF announced a new format of qualification for major world events, with this qualification format subject to ratification at IWBF World Congress.
Following the IWBF World Congress, which took place in Hamburg, Germany on Friday 24th August, the new format was ratified with the condition it was postponed and introduced post Tokyo 2020 on request from the membership. Consequently, the qualification process for the wheelchair basketball competitions for Tokyo 2020 remains the same as it was for the Rio 2016 and for previous games.
There will be 12 teams in the men’s competition and 10 teams in the women’s competition.
Japan as host nation receive an automatic spot for both their men’s and women’s teams, then each of the four zones are awarded one place each in both competitions.
The remaining seven places in the men’s competition and five places in the women’s competition are decided from the final rankings of the last World Championships, in this case, the 2018 World Championships.
The top seven ranked men’s teams and the top five ranked women’s teams each earn an additional qualification spot for their respective zone.
The final rankings of the 2018 Men’s World Championships saw Great Britain finish in first, with fellow European Zone counterparts Spain and Poland in fifth and sixth, giving Europe an additional three places, to take their qualification spots up to four. Asia Oceania’s Australia and Iran, finished third and fourth, adding on another two places for their zone taking their total up to four (including Japan). For the Americas, two extra spots were gained to make it three for the zone, thanks to USA finishing second, and Argentina overcoming Turkey to claim seventh. An African team did not make the top seven which means they have just the one automatic spot.
In the 2018 Women’s World Championships, Europe had a strong representation in the top five with the Netherlands, Great Britain and Germany all finishing on the podium to add a further three qualification spots for the European Zone. China finished fourth to give the Asia Oceania Zone an extra spot, and Canada secured fifth to give the Americas another qualifying spot. An African team did not make the top five, so they don’t add to their one automatic spot.
Final qualification places for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
[Converted Table to List]
*including JPN as Host Nation in both Men and Women
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