Wheelchair Rugby teams announced for the World Games 2022

The six countries that will compete in the Wheelchair Rugby tournament at The World Games 2022 in Birmingham in Alabama have been announced.

The United States as the host will be joined by Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Japan and Switzerland when the sport makes its debut on The World Games programme.

“I’m proud to see the inclusion of wheelchair rugby into The World Games 2022,” said International Wheelchair Rugby Federation (IWRF) President Richard Allcroft, and continued: “My thanks to the Organising Committee in Alabama, USA for pushing this initiative and to the International World Games Association for their innovative thinking in terms of inclusion. It was important to us as the International Federation that we included a discipline of our sport that wasn’t in the Paralympic Games. This continues the ethos of The World Games.”

At The World Games 2022, the Wheelchair Rugby discipline to be played is Low Point Wheelchair Rugby. It is a mixed gender full contact sport where athletes with impairment classes 0.5 (most severe), 1.0 and 1.5 take part, on a scale that goes up to 3.5. The 4 athletes on the court total a maximum of 3.5 points.

Besides the teams invited, the IWRF have put four countries on standby in case those already confirmed have to withdraw from The World Games next year. They are, in order of priority, France, Sweden, Finland and Israel.

The World Games 2022 will be organised in the period 7–17 July 2022 in Birmingham, Alabama, USA with 3,600 athletes from 34 sports and over 100 countries.