2023 World Wheelchair Rugby Asia-Oceania Championships concluded with finals day on 2nd July at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, with medals and one spot on the line in the gold medal match with the winner taking the automatic spot for 2024 Paris Paralympics.
Up first was the bronze medal match between the favourites New Zealand who was confidently coming into the match having dispatched Korea twice in the round robin and pushing both Japan and Australia who were playing in the Gold medal match, and Korea who had a bad disruption just before the tournament which lead to them forfeiting their 3 round 2 matches.
This match went according to plan for the Kiwis and were dominant from start to finish rolling out all squad members in this match, though there were signs of mistakes that had cost them against Japan and Australia. Korea gave it their all but they just weren’t up to the task to compete against New Zealand in this one. Korea did manage to get their second highest game total in the bronze medal match though. Final score – New Zealand 53 Korea 31
Once the dust had settled on the bronze, up next was the game that was the most anticipated match. Though Japan had won both encounters between the 2 teams in the round robin stage, Australia had shown enough promise to push the hosts and the feeling around the stadium was that it was going to be close.
The first 4 minutes went try for try until Japan broke the deadlock with a turnover. With 2 minutes left and Australia was looking for a turnover of their own, they managed to cough the ball up 3 times inside a minute and Japan went in to the first break 16-12 in the lead.
Second period began with Australia getting some luck and Ryley Batt finding spaces he couldn’t get to in the first period, while Japan kept up their well-structured play. It took until just over 1 minute left in the half for the first turnover of the period to happen due to a loose pass from the Australian side. Japan used their first 60 second time out of the game to score last in the half and taking advantage of starting the 3rd period with possession. Japan managed to extend their lead by 1, with going in to the longer break leading 30-25
Third period started with a moment that summed up things for Japan and Australia with Shinichi Shimakawa tipping over but managing to get a pass off in time for the hosts to open the scoring in 2nd half. This was a period where time outs looked to be critical, with Japan using all their remaining 30 second time outs and only 1 60 second time out remained at the end of the period. Australia had used their 60 second time outs but still had 1 remaining 30 second time out so there was hope for the Australians, though they were down 41-33 going in to the last period.
Unfortunately for the few Australians in the crowd, hopes of their side turning things around quickly faded when their side made 2 turnovers before 2 minutes had gone. The Australian side always kept trying but, in the end, Japan were too good and kept extending their lead, and ended triumphing 55-44, sending off their coach Kevin Orr who had announced he was stepping down before the tournament started, with another tournament win.
Best in Class –
0.5 James McQuillan (Australia)
1.0 Hitoshi Ogawa (Japan)
1.5 Seiya Norimatsu (Japan)
2.0 Andrew Edmonson (Australia)
2.5 Cameron Leslie (New Zealand)
3.0 Daisuke Ikezaki (Japan)
3.5 Katsuya Hashimoto (Japan)
Tournament MVP – Yukinobu Ike (Japan)
Final Placings
1st – Japan
2nd – Australia
3rd – New Zealand
4th – Korea
