Contenders announced for 2018 wheelchair basketball Worlds

The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) has announced the field for the 2018 World Championships set to take place 16-26 August in Hamburg, Germany.

Sixteen men’s and 12 women’s teams will compete for world medals. The draw for the World Championships 2018 will take place in the host city at the end of January.

The reigning men’s world champions Australia will be looking to bounce back from their disappointing finish at Rio 2016 to defend their title. They qualified along with Iran, Japan and South Korea from the Asia Oceania Zone, whilst the women’s teams from China and Australia also qualified via the Zonal Championships.

In the Americas Zone, both the men’s and women’s teams from Argentina, Brazil, Canada and the USA all booked their places at the World Championships.

Seven men’s teams and five women’s teams qualified from the European Zone. Hosts Germany receive an automatic spot for both their men’s and women’s teams, and they are joined by men’s teams from Turkey, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Spain, Poland and Italy. From the women’s European side, Netherlands, Great Britain, France and Spain will be heading to Hamburg.

The Moroccan men caused an upset in the Africa Qualifiers as they knocked out favourites Algeria to clinch a place at the Worlds, together with the Algerian women’s team.

MEN’S TEAMS

Hosts: Germany

Europe: Turkey, Great Britain, Netherlands, Spain, Poland, Italy

Americas: USA**, Canada, Brazil, Argentina

Asia Oceania: Australia*, Iran, Japan, South Korea

Africa: Morocco

WOMEN’S TEAMS

Hosts: Germany

Europe: Netherlands, Great Britain, France, Spain

Americas: Canada*, USA**, Brazil, Argentina

Asia Oceania: China, Australia

Africa: Algeria

*Defending world champions

**Defending Paralympic champions

For more information about the World Championships 2018 please visit the official website.