Author: Editor Prime

Loughborough University and WWR collaborate once again, with Chilling the Game: Mastering cooling strategies for Wheelchair Rugby

A player’s classification, impairment type and physical attributes all contribute to the predisposition of heightened thermal strain in Wheelchair Rugby.

Chilling the Game is a visual aid providing details of pre-, per-, and post-cooling strategies that may be optimal for a wheelchair rugby game. The aid helps players to identify and be consistent with what works best for them.

WWR would like to thank Dr Tom O’Brien, Prof. Vicky Goosey-Tolfrey and colleagues at the Peter Harrison Centre for Disability Sport at Loughborough University for their work on cooling methods for Wheelchair Rugby Athletes.

Chilling the Game: Mastering cooling strategies for Wheelchair Rugby can be found on the WWR Website:

https://worldwheelchair.rugby/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/cooling-methods-final-_-June-2023-WWR-approved-ver002.pdf

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

The round robin stage has been completed here in Tokyo, Japan for the 2023 World Wheelchair Rugby Asia Oceania Championships.

After 3 days of competition, it is the hosts, Japan, who will go into the Gold medal match as favourites having gone undefeated throughout the tournament. Lead by their front players Daisuke Ikezaki and Yukinobu Ike, they will be looking to send off head coach Kevin Orr with a tournament win. Orr, who lives in the USA and has been commuting in his time as Japan’s coach, announced the day before the start of the tournament that he would be stepping down from the role.

Australia have played well all tournament and have lead their matches against Japan for at least half of each of them but have made costly errors towards the end of their clashes that has proved costly. They will be pleased that they have had some close games against New Zealand to run different line ups.

New Zealand have had some good performances at times, but have been let down also by errors at critical times. Given they pushed Australia and Japan at times in all their matches against these opponents, there is certainly some positives for the Kiwis.

Korea came into the tournament in a rebuilding phase, and had an unfortunate disruption just prior to the tournament, which meant that they didn’t have their ideal team look they had wanted. After consulting with WWR and JWRF, the decision was made by the Koreans to forfeit their second matches against the other 3 teams. Instead, exhibition matches were played under WWR rules, including the official result of these matches being 1-0 to Korea’s opposition. They will however, officially compete for bronze tomorrow against New Zealand. None of the forfeited matches determined any placings.

Matches on the final day of competition (times are in Japanese Standard Time) –

Bronze medal match 12:15pm New Zealand vs Korea

Live stream links
English commentary – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dplst1RG5xw

Japanese commentary – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj_VreF9YyY

Gold medal match 2:15pm Japan vs Korea
English commentary – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eDRhJNSNCg

Japanese commentary – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeHgZ649jdA

29^th July sees the 10^th edition of Asia-Oceania Championships (the first 4 editions were known as Oceania Championship), taking place at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan. This is the first time since 2019 the Championship has been held, after the 2021 edition in Auckland, New Zealand, was cancelled due to the COVID19 Pandemic.  

4 countries will be competing – Japan (hosts), Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea, with the winner taking the solitary automatic spot from the region for the 2024 Paris Paralympics. The 3 countries that are left from these championships, will have the choice of competing at the last chance tournament for the Paralympics, to be held in April next year, at a venue to be confirmed.

Japan Wheelchair Rugby Federation have said they are looking forward to hosting this event 2 years after hosting the wheelchair rugby tournament at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

Australia come into these Championships having won the last 2, defeating Japan both times and are looking at building on their legacy in this sport. Japan won the Championship last in 2015, having defeated Australia back then in Chiba, Japan; while New Zealand’s solitary win at the Championships has been in 2005 which were held in Brakpan, South Africa. South Korea come in to this tournament, looking for their first medal, with their best finish being 4^th that they have achieved 4 times in their 5 attempts at the champs.

There are 3 countries that have already qualified from Europe for Paris Paralympics 2024 – France (hosts), Great Britain and Denmark.

All matches will be live streamed to YouTube –

English commentary – https://www.youtube.com/@worldwheelchairrugby6250/streams

Japanese commentary – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOe-EdwWb1n51c4-UEzNS_A

Photograph: Megumi Masuda/World Wheelchair Rugby

WWR are excited to announce that Shae Graham has accepted the role of Athlete Representative.
Shae has competed at the highest level including gold medallist at the recent World Championship in Denmark where the “Steelers” raised the cup as World Champions. Also competing at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

Shae commented “I am excited to work with the WWR Athlete Council to create an effective Athlete voice that represents what the players want to see in and around the sport. Ultimately, I took on the position to support and promote the voices of the Athletes in our sport. It’s also a great opportunity to grow both personally and professionally and it provides me with an opportunity to learn more about how WWR operates.”

WWR President Richard Allcroft said “I’m really pleased Shae has accepted the role after carefully considering and discussing it with her peers. The Athlete Council is an important part of our organisation and we need to make sure it can be more effective in its role, acting as the athlete voice.”

As the Athlete Representative, the position will act as Chair of the Athlete Council. It is also an elected position and therefore is also a Board Director able to influence and act directly at the highest level of leadership in the organisation.

As the position was left vacant at the previous General Assembly, the WWR Board have co-opted as an interim appointment. The position will remain as such until the next General Assembly, where elections can take place.

Shae’s role was also supported by the WWR National Member Organisation for Australia.

As part of WWR’s ongoing improvements to its governance, the Board revised the WWR Code of Conduct and approved the framework that will deal with its implementation and all disciplinary matters and appeals through a newly formed Independent Judicial System.

As such, we are looking for suitable individuals with a legal background and individuals who have experience in classification and anti-doping.

The closing date for applications is 9 June 2023

The Independent Judicial Panel

This is the first occasion that WWR will comprise the Independent Judicial Panel from which Judicial and Appeal Committees will be drawn by the Independent Judicial Chair, Susan Ahern to hear all cases or appeals referred to it under the  WWR Regulations, rules and policies.

• The Regulations can be found on the website under the “About WWR” section.
• A role description sets out the criteria against which proposed Judicial Panel Members will be considered.
• An application form is available to download.

WWR are looking to identify and appoint individuals with the requisite experience. Panel members are divided into two categories: Legal Member and Specialist Member.

• Legal Members are appointed to chair hearings and lead reviews or investigations
• Specialist Members are appointed as wing members, to undertake investigations and to contribute to reviews

Judicial Panel members are also assigned to the thematic panels covering the following areas:

• Appeal Panel
• Classification Panel
• Anti-Doping Panel

An implementation date of 1 August 2023 has been targeted and to meet this, one of the important matters to deal with is to recruit and appoint independent panel members so that they can be called upon to act on behalf of the sport globally.

If you have any queries as to the suitability of an individual please contact WWR on the email address – judicial@worldwheelchair.rugby

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Day 4 of the World Wheelchair European Championship’s at the Principality stadium – During the first match, we saw the pressure start to kick in during a fierce competition between Netherlands and Israel. Half-time showed a tight score of 28- 20 to Israel, leaving the gap at only 2 points difference. Both teams were feeling the pressure but more determined to win then ever, however Netherlands managed to keep their point lead winning with a final score of 63- 36.

The second match saw the battle between a strong Switzerland side and a pumped up Czech Republic side. The floor was on fire during this game, as the players were shredding up their wheels to win the points, leaving Switzerland with 57 points and Czech Republic with 34 points at the final whistle.

Game three- Semi-Final 1 saw the intense clash between Great Britain and Germany, whereby Germany fought hard to beat the undisputed Great British legends. Both teams were fired up and ready to go to win this match for the finals tomorrow, leaving with scores of 28 Great Britain and 23 points Germany at half time. Overall, Great Britain won the match with a total point score of 56 to 42 Germany. Germany have made their way through the competition, securing a place in the Bronze Medal Match, as well as Great Britain moving on to the Final for the Gold Medal against France.

Then showed Semi Final 2, the almighty clash between France and Denmark. The much anticipated clash between two legendary teams, including defending champions France. France and Denmark were equally matched at half time, as they managed to score 32 points by France and 28 points by Denmark. As the game commenced into the second half, we saw France take the lead and leave the points scored at 60 – 49 points Denmark. We will be fortunate enough to see Great Britain vs France meet in the finals tomorrow. Leaving Germany vs Denmark in the Bronze Medal match game.

The last match saw a strong fought battle between Israel and Czech Republic. Tension and determination were high between both teams. At half time, Israel led with a 10 point difference, with a score of 28-18. After consistent points being scored throughout, Israel maintained their leading ways, leaving the final score at 52-38 to Israel!

Day 4 Results

Match 13: Netherlands 63 V Israel 36.

Match 14: Switzerland 57 v Czech Republic 39

Match 15: Semi-Final 1- Germany 42 V Great Britain 56

Match 16: Semi- Final 2- France 60 V Denmark 49

Match 17: Israel 52 up v Czech Republic 38

Day four Schedule- Sunday 7th May

Match 18: NED V SUI – 09:00

Wheelchair Rugby Judgement Day – Dragon’s V Ospreys

Match 19: Bronze Medal Match- GER v DEN- 12:00

Match 20: Final- GBR v FRA – 15:00

Medal Ceremony – 16:30

WHERE TO WATCH:

www.worldwheelchair.rugby/news/2023-wwr-european-championship-live

https://www.youtube.com/@Channel4Sport/streams

Day 3 of the World Wheelchair European Championship’s at the Principality Stadium – We kicked off the day with a mighty competition between Switzerland and Israel. What a fantastic game it was! Half-time showed a tight score of 23 – 18 to Switzerland. Both teams were as determined as ever to win, but Switzerland managed to keep their point lead – Winning with a final score of 50 – 46!

The second match showed the audience glued to their seats as the Czech Republic and Netherlands battled to take the win. The Netherlands showed up with their usual mighty wall of defence, and won the game with 66 points , leaving the Czech Republic with 34 points at the final whistle.

Game three started with remembrance of Bernard Lapasset. He was former president of French Rugby Federation, and Chair of World Wheelchair Rugby. WWR president Richard Allcroft lead a moving tribute, whereby the audience held an applause. Shortly after, we saw the clash between France and Germany, whereby Germany fought hard to beat the undisputed French champions. Overall, France won the match with a point score of France 63 – 39 Germany.

Then came the almighty clash between Wales V England in the long anticipated Celebrity Match, of course, taking place in the heart of Welsh Rugby – The Principality Stadium! Wales took the lead with the score of 7 to 2 with England at half time. During the second half, England fired up with fighting spirits to gain points against a strong Wales side. Despite England’s efforts, the game ended with a score of Wales 12 vs England 8.

Finally, our last game of the day ended with Great Britain vs Denmark  – The much anticipated clash between two of the arguably strongest teams about! Great Britain and Denmark were equally matched, which displayed an outstanding performance overall. Both sides were strong and the audience were going wild, as they watched the two teams scoring turn by turn, leaving the the half time score at 29- 21  Denmark. As the wheels were burning and the atmosphere was buzzing, Great Britain took the lead and scored 52 points, leaving Denmark with a respectable 45.

As many of you will agree, Day 3 lived far past our expectations around excitement, support, and outstanding performances! We cannot wait to see what Day 4 has in store for us…

Day 3 Results

Match 9: Switzerland 50 vs Israel 46

Match 10: Czech Republic 34 vs Netherlands 66

Match 11: Germany 39 v France 63

Celebrity match: Wales 12  v England 8

Match 12: Great Britain 52 vs Denmark 45

Day four Schedule – Saturday 6th May

Match 13: NED V ISR – 09:00

Match 14: SUI v CZE – 13:00

Match 15: Semi-Final 1- GER V GBR – 15:45

Match 16: Semi- Final 2- FRA V DEN -18:00

Match 17: 5th Semi-Final 1st Runner up v 5th Semi-Final 2nd Runner up- 20:00

Where To Watch:

https://studio.youtube.com/video/Pcuh30raOpQ/livestreaming

www.worldwheelchair.rugby/news/2023-wwr-european-championship-live

https://www.youtube.com/@Channel4Sport/streams

(Photo Credit: Gareth Everett)

We have joined the rugby world in paying tribute to Bernard Lapasset, former president of French Rugby Fédération and chair of World Rugby. WWR president Richard Allcroft lead a moving tribute, which was followed by a moment of applause in the stadium.  

Bernard will be remembered as one of rugby’s great leaders, devoting his life to growing all aspects of the game including the development and promotion of wheelchair rugby.  Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this sad time.

(Photo Credit – Gareth Everett)

We opened our second day of the competition with Israel V Denmark, and what a game it was! Half time showed a tight score of 33-27 to Denmark, where Denmark managed to keep their point lead, winning with a final score of 68-43! 

Next, we saw Great Britain take the reigns against a strong physical Switzerland side, leaving the half time score at 24-18 to GBR. After a strong fought battle, Great Britain managed to maintain their winning streak, and come away with a final score of 47-31! 

For the penultimate game of the day, defending champions France went head to head against a fast pace, ready for war Czech Republic side, where France grasped a strong head start, leaving the half time score at 29-12! After a strong start, France maintained their winning ways, leaving the final score at 24-67! With two games won out of two games played, France safely secured themselves a place in Saturday’s semi-finals! 

Our last game of the day saw Germany take on the mighty Netherlands side, leaving the score at 48-54 in the day’s final match! Therefore, Germany managed to fight their way into a place in the semi-finals! 

A big congratulations to all winning teams, and we look forward to seeing you progress! After an action packed second day, we really look forward to what’s in store for Day 3 – and we hope you will join us!

Day 3 Schedule

Friday 5th May –

Match 9: SUI v ISR – 11:00

Match 10: CZE v NED – 13:00

Match 11: FRA v GER – 15:30

Celebrity Match – Wales v England – 17:30

Match 12: GBR v DEN – 19:30

WHERE TO WATCH:

www.worldwheelchair.rugby/news/2023-wwr-european-championship-live

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGUn2nHFgBQ

https://www.youtube.com/@Channel4Sport/streams