Wheelchair Rugby

Fast paced contact sport played by tetraplegic athletes, combining elements of rugby, basketball, ice hockey and american football.

New Zealand beat Canada 31-29 and win gold.

Final Saturday, it was close all the way, with never more than a couple of goals between both sides throughout the entire match.

In the end it was New Zealand who overturned the Canadians early lead and held onto a slim advantage to take the gold medal. The 5000 strong crowd added to the excitement of a close, tense game. What more could a non-Canadian spectator ask for?

In another close game the USA held off the GB team to win the bronze medal by 43 goals to 39.

GB will be disappointed not to get a medal but on the day the USA deserved third place.

During the Group phase the USA did beat New Zealand, showing how close the top international teams are.

See the Final Draw Sheet


About Wheelchair Rugby

A relatively new sport which debuted in Sydney, but one which has got a lot of support worldwide over the last few years.

Also known as Quad Rugby it is played using a volleyball, on a standard basketball court, by 4 players per team (a squad of 12). Players are graded according to level of disability from 0.5 (approximately equal to a C5 tetraplegic) to 3.5 (least impaired) and the team fielded must total 8.0 points or less - similar idea to wheelchair basketball. The teams are not gender specific.

Goals are scored by crossing the opponents baseline whilst holding the ball. Each match consistes of 4 quarters of 8 minutes (clock stops when ball is out of play). Key rules are the ball must be passed or dribbled every 10 seconds, within 15 seconds the ball must enter the opponents half, infringements are penalized by use of the 1 minute sin-bin, ball turnover or awarding of a goal. There are no restrictions on amount of pushes, chair contact is allowed but not personal contact. With timeouts etc a typical game will last about an hour, in Athens in the event of a draw 3 minutes of extra time is played.

More about wheelchair rugby

Canada Cup, Athens warm up Tournament - Results

Athlete profile : Curtis Palmer - New Zealand