Paralympics 2024: A guide to wheelchair basketball at the Paris Games

Dutch player Bo Kramer will be hoping her side continue their dominance in France

Key information

Dates: 29 August-8 September

Venue: Bercy Arena

Gold medals on offer: Two

What are the rules of wheelchair basketball?

Wheelchair basketball has been one of the mainstays of the Paralympics since the first Games in Rome in 1960.

It is similar in many ways to the running game - the court is the same size and the the basket is the same height, each team consists of five players and a team has 24 seconds from taking possession of the ball to complete an attempt on the basket.

The scoring system is the same too - one point for a free-throw, two for a field basket and three for a shot made behind the three-point line.

Matches consist of four quarters of 10 minutes each.

Players move the ball around the court by passing or dribbling. A dribble is when a player bounces the ball and pushes their chair simultaneously or places the ball on their lap and takes up to two pushes of the chair before bouncing the ball again.

Players are required to throw or bounce the ball after every two pushes of the wheels on their chairs to avoid being penalised for 'travelling'.

A player who commits five personal fouls must be replaced in the game by another player.

All players are given a points total from 1.0 (the most impaired) up to 4.5 (the least impaired) and this is based on an athlete's functional ability to complete all skills necessary to play the game.

Each squad can consist of up to 12 players, with only five players on the court at any one time. To ensure fair play on both sides, the points total of all five players on a team must not exceed a combined total of 14.0 points to rule out any physical advantage on either side.

Qualification for Paris has been tougher than ever with only eight teams competing in the men's and women's events - down from 12 and 10 respectively.

Among the men's teams to miss out are Japan, who won a surprise silver medal on home soil in 2021 and Iran, the 2022 World Championship bronze medallists.

Who are GB’s wheelchair basketball players in Paris?

The British men's team won bronze at the past two Games, as well as the 2018 world title.

They come to Paris as European champions having won the title last August, just weeks after a narrow defeat by the USA in the final of the rearranged 2022 World Championship in Dubai.

There is plenty of experience, not least from Terry Bywater who is competing at his eighth Games, having made his debut as a 17-year-old in Sydney in 2000.

Gregg Warburton, Phil Pratt, Lee Manning and Abdi Jama will also be key figures for the team.

The women bounced back from a ninth-placed finish at the Worlds to take silver at the Europeans and clinch their place in Paris.

The squad features seven players who won world silver in 2018 - Helen Freeman, who will be competing at her fifth Games, Robyn Love, Sophie Carrigill, Joy Haizelden, Charlotte Moore, Laurie Williams and Amy Conroy.

They are joined by Paralympic debutants Jade Atkin, Maddie Martin and Jodie Waite, along with Katie Morrow, who played in Rio, and Lucy Robinson, who made her debut in Tokyo.

Who are the other challengers?

The United States men are bidding for a third title in a row and go into the tournament as world champions after their victory over GB.

The Netherlands, Spain and former champions Canada will be among the other main challengers.

On the women's side, the Netherlands have been the dominant force in recent times and hold all three major titles - Paralympic, world and Europeans.

China are a rising force, while the USA and Germany will also bid to feature.

Did you know?

GB players Laurie Williams and Robyn Love became parents in April 2023 when Williams gave birth to their daughter Alba.

ParalympicsGB Tokyo 2020 medals

One - bronze (men)