IWBF - Orchard delighted with U25 Women's World Champ

ONTARIO (IWBF U25 World Wheelchair Basketball Championship) - Passion for basketball has a remarkable ability to unify people, and on and around the courts of the Walker Complex of Ontario's Brock University it has been especially obvious over the past week.

Indeed, 96 players from all corners of the world gathered to take part in the U25 Women's World Wheelchair Basketball Championship, hosted by the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF).

The Championship is by no means a low-key affair. Games have gathered crowds of both fans and the curious, while the tournament website has little to envy those of most large sporting events. Complete with detailed statistics (the IWBF is using live stats similar to the ones used by FIBA during its events), the website also features a section where players have been blogging about their experience.

FIBA.com caught up with Maureen Orchard, IWBF Secretary General, to discuss the wheelchair basketball and the U25 World Championship.

FIBA: Many FIBA.com readers won’t know very much about Wheelchair Basketball, can you tell us a bit about the rules and how they are different from the classic form of basketball?

Wheelchair Basketball rules are based on the rules of FIBA with modifications to accommodate the use of the wheelchair. Specifically the player may only push two times without dribbling the ball similar to two steps.

One big difference is the player may hold the ball push twice hold the ball again and dribble - there is no double dribble in wheelchair basketball. Of course there is no dunking and we have a tap-off to start the game.

The one thing that the viewer might notice is that the player may tilt the chair as long as one of the big wheels remain on the floor. They may not lift the back wheels from the floor if their hands are not touching the wheel.

FIBA: How is the game structured internationally and how many people play the game worldwide?

IWBF is structured the same as FIBA except that IWBF only has four zones, IWBF Africa, IWBF Americas, IWBFAsia Oceania and IWBF Europe. We have 96 countries with approximately 100,000 players around the world with many playing recreationally and about 5,000 playing the game at a club or national team level.

FIBA: Ontario has just hosted the U25 World Championship. How has the tournament gone so far?

The tournament has exceeded our most optimistic expectations. The women have shown remarkable skill and determination. We are excited about the fact that approximately 50% will be eligible for the next games in 2015.

FIBA: U25 is an unusual age category, why hold an event for this age category?

It was a decision based on our knowledge that there are significantly less women playing the game worldwide at a young age. Women players start playing later,take longer to develop and there is often less resources available to them.

Many young women players must start on men's teams because there is often not enough young women in their area playing.

FIBA: What other basketball events can we look forward to this summer?

This is our major event for this summer period but we will shortly move into the qualification tournaments for the London 2012 Games with the European Championships taking place in Israel in September.

We then move to Morocco in October for the African Championships followed by the Asia Oceania Championships in November in South Korea. The year is concludes with the Parapan American Games in Mexico the end of November.

FIBA