Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby In Final for European Crown
GBWR has been successfully defending its European Championship title in Koblentz, Germany, where the squad has been taking part in the 2017 IWRF European Division A Championships. Though there is still a question mark over their 2018 World Championship participation.
Europe’s top eight wheelchair rugby teams have been meeting over the five days of competition - each looking to qualify for next year’s IWRF World Championships in Sydney, Australia - and GBWR have won all of their matches in the tournament with a 57-32 victory over Poland, beating Ireland 65-27, Denmark 60-47 and France 54-41. Great Britain have secured a place in the final which takes place tomorrow at 4.45pm (UK time).
GBWR are the current European Champions but competition has been tough with France, Denmark and Finland all playing well. GB earned the top seed and were placed in Group B with Ireland, Poland and Denmark. Group A is made up of Sweden, France, Germany and Finland.
GBWR return seven athletes from the Rio squad including star 3.0 Jim Roberts and world ranked 0.5 Jonny Coggan. There are also some exciting new faces and all eyes will be on high pointer 3.5 Stuart Robinson, an Afghanistan veteran who also represents GB in the Invictus Games.
It has been a tough few months for GBWR, still reeling from the UK Sport decision to cut funding. Chief Executive David Pond comments, “We have a really strong team going in to the European Championships. Since the disappointing funding news it has been tough to keep the athletes motivated and to provide a basic performance programme. I am grateful to those who have rallied to us, especially LMAX Exchange who have come on board as a new partner, and BT who will support us until the end of the year. Regrettably, even if we win this tournament, the jury is out as to whether we can raise the funds to take part in the World Championships next year, though I and others will be doing all we can to try to make this happen.’
Earlier this week GBWR joined 10 other sports to call for a new approach to the investment into Olympic and Paralympic sport by UK Sport. The sports believe that while the existing approach to National Lottery funding of Britain’s Olympic and Paralympic sports has been successful in winning medals, it has disenfranchised many of the country’s elite sportsmen and women, creating a two-class system that runs counter to Olympic and Paralympic ideals.
David Pond, commented “It is not right that a whole group of athletes have been disenfranchised by this ugly decision. It represents a betrayal of the declared London 2012 legacy and creates a system of ‘have and have nots’ just at a time when sport could have an even greater role in promoting social cohesion. Ultimately this is taxpayer and lottery funding and I just do not believe the public support the removal of all funding in this way’.
“We urge UK Sport to recognise that medal targets alone should not be the sole criteria for it’s funding, that it has a responsibility to ensure that all Olympic and Paralympic athletes are encouraged to achieve their potential and that a system of development opportunities should be put into place.
“If we were a football club, relegated from the Premier League, a parachute payment system is in place to help us bounce back. That doesn’t happen in Olympic and Paralympic sport – we are simply thrown over the edge; what a dreadful waste of public money invested to date and a huge waste of some incredible talent.”
