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| Highestgoverning body | |
|---|---|
| Characteristics | |
| Mixed-sex | No |
| Type | Indoor |
| Presence | |
| Paralympic | 1960 |
TheInternational Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) is the internationalgoverning body for the sport ofWheelchair Basketball. IWBF is recognized by theInternational Paralympic Committee (IPC) as the sole competent authority in wheelchair basketball worldwide.[1] International Basketball Federation (orFIBA) has recognized IWBF under Article 53 of its General Statutes.
TheStoke Mandeville Wheelchair Games, held in 1947, were the first games to be held and included only a handful of participants (26), and few events (shot put, javelin, club throw, and archery). The number of wheelchair events and participants grew quickly. Wheelchairnetball was introduced in the 1948 Games. In 1952, a team from the Netherlands was invited to compete with the British team. This became the first International Stoke-Mandeville Games (ISMG), an event that has been held annually ever since. Wheelchair basketball, as we know it now, was first played at the 1956 International Stoke-Mandeville Games. The US "Pan Am Jets" team won the tournament.[2]
In 1973, theInternational Stoke Mandeville Games Federation (ISMGF) established the first Sub-section forwheelchair basketball. At that time ISMGF was the world governing body for allwheelchair sports. In 1989,ISMGF accepted the nameInternational Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) for its former sub-section. With this step wheelchair basketball began its journey for full independence and in 1993 IWBF was established as the world body for wheelchair basketball with full responsibility for development of the sport. Over the next five years IWBF membership grew in size and the federation configured itself into 4 geographical zones.
IWBF studied severalmodels before creating its current zone structure. Based on the number ofNational Organizations for Wheelchair Basketball (NOWB) with active programs at the national and international level it was decided thatIWBF Americas andIWBF Europe could be the same asFIBA Americas andFIBA Europe. However, because of the limited number of countries with active programs in the rest of the world, IWBF chose to combine some regions to create better developmental and competitive opportunities within the zone. As a result, the last two zones of IWBF (2005) areIWBF Asia Oceania andIWBF Africa.
Before 2007 or 2005 Africa and west asian in one zone and east asia with oceania in one zone.
Members in May 2022:[3][4][5][6]
As of 2003, IWBF has 76 NOWB actively participating in wheelchair basketball throughout the world with this number increasing each year. As of 2021, IWBF has 95 NOWB actively participating inwheelchair basketball throughout the world with this number increasing each year. 98 in May 2022.
IWBF is governed by an Executive Council that is elected at the World Congress every four years.Philip Craven (Great Britain) who had served as Chairperson of the ISMGF wheelchair basketball Section since 1988 was elected in 1993 as the first President of IWBF.
In 2001, Brendan Hancock was elected to the position of President of theInternational Paralympic Committee (IPC) and retired as president of IWBF at the World Congress in 2002.Maureen Orchard (Canada) was elected as only the second president of IWBF at that same World Congress inKitakyushu, Japan in 2002.
In order to make thecompetitions fair, each player receives a point in regard theirphysical ability called class, from 1.0 which is the lowest class with the maximum physical disability to the 4.5 which is highest class with the lowest physical disability.
The person who performs classification called classifier. Classifiers have Bronze, Silver and Gold badges according to their knowledge and experience. Recently the classification rules made changes and have only two levels, namely the national classifier, the zone classifier and the International Classifier.[1]
Don Perriman (Australia) is the current President of Classification Commission
Kenneth McKay (Great Britain)
Gold Classifier
Gholamhossein Shahrabadi (Iran)
Gold Classier
Toufic Allouch (Lebanon)
Wheelchair basketball national organizations have developed in a variety of ways. Most started out the same way as IWBF, as a sub-section of a national wheelchair sport organization. As IWBF matured so did many of its member organizations and now there are several models that IWBF embraces within its membership. InMexico the wheelchair basketball organizations are a part of theirNational Paralympic Committee(NPC). Australia is part of theAustralian Wheelchair Athletes Ltd., and others are under the umbrella of a National Disabled Federation such asBahrain who are part of theBahrain Disabled Sports Federation. In theNetherlands wheelchair basketball is fully integrated into theNederlandse Basketball Bond and in Canada theCanadian Wheelchair Basketball Association is fully independent. In all cases where a member is part of a larger federation the IWBF only recognizes the part of that federation responsible for wheelchair basketball.
International | Continental | Other tournaments | Clubs | Youth |
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