The History of wheelchair basketball

Wheelchair basketball has its roots in the United States, where it was first played in 1945 by World War II veterans at Corona Naval Station in California and Framingham, Massachusetts. Around the same time, British war veterans began playing wheelchair netball at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire, Great Britain. This initiative was led by Dr. Ludwig Guttmann, a German-born neurosurgeon who is widely recognized as the founder of the Paralympic Games.

In 1949, the first national wheelchair basketball tournament took place in Illinois, USA, featuring six teams. This same year marked the formation of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) in the United States. Wheelchair basketball began its international journey in 1955 when the Pan Am Jets, an American team, were invited to play at the International Stoke Mandeville Games. Their dominant performance helped to shift the focus from wheelchair netball to wheelchair basketball at future Games. Wheelchair basketball became an official sport at the inaugural Paralympic Games in Rome in 1960.

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The first unofficial men’s World Championship took place in 1973 in Bruges, Belgium, though it only involved European countries and was not recognised as an official event. Two years later, Bruges hosted the first official men’s World Championship, where Israel claimed the title. To date, the USA leads the gold medal count with seven titles, with the most recent championship held in 2023 in Dubai, where the USA triumphed over Great Britain.

Women’s wheelchair basketball has also seen significant growth. The game for women began to surface in the mid-1960's, but the first women’s World Championship was held in 1990 in St. Etienne, France, with the USA taking the inaugural title. Since then, the USA has won two gold medals, while Canada has secured five, and the Netherlands has claimed the last two championships, including the 2022 title.

In addition to senior competitions, the IWBF introduced the Junior Men’s World Championship in 1997, now known as the Men’s U23 World Championship. The first event was held in Canada, where the host nation won gold. As the competition expanded, more countries participated, reflecting the sport’s growing popularity among youth players. The Women’s U25 World Championship was introduced in 2011, with four editions held so far, the latest in 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand.

Today, wheelchair basketball is a global sport with an estimated 100,000 players participating at various levels, from recreational and club play to elite national teams. This growth highlights the global reach and increasing investment in wheelchair basketball, from grassroots to elite levels.

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