Wheelchair Rugby announces world championship squad

Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby has announced the 12 players who have been selected to compete in the IWRF World Championship – 1 to 10 August 2014 – in Odense, Denmark.

Scotland’s Mike Kerr will lead the squad, which includes:

Alan Ash, Coral Batey, Ayaz Bhuta, Jonathan Coggan, Muhammad Fakrul Islam, Bulbul Hussain, Mike Kerr (Captain), Jim Roberts, Chris Ryan, Mandip Sehmi, Jamie Stead, and Gavin Walker.

Performance Director for Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby, Lorraine Brown, comments “Our placing at the recent Canada Cup shows that the young players we have recruited to the game are working well alongside experienced players such as Mike Kerr, Alan Ash and Jonathan Coggan and developing into a strong squad. We still have a lot of work to do and tournaments such as the World Championships will only help hone the team further.”

Following the recent Canada Cup tournament, (where GBWR came fourth), the squad are now ranked fifth in the World, behind USA, Australia, Canada and Japan.

Yesterday, Mike Brown (Captain) and Chris Ryan (Vice Captain) introduced the newly named squad to the Minister of State for Disabled People, the Rt Hon Mike Penning MP, who joined them at training in Leicester.

David Pond, Chief Executive Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby comments, “It is an exciting time for the game.Thanks to the funding support of UK Sport, the Lottery and Sport England we’ve been able to nurture this squad and deliver results at international tournaments. In the last year alone we’ve also seen three new clubs open in the UK, with plans for more over the next twelve months.”

GBWR recently joined London Mayor Boris Johnson to announce the WORLD WHEELCHAIR RUGBY CHALLENGE 2015 (WWRC15), an invitational tournament involving some of the top wheelchair rugby nations expected to be competing in Rio 2016. Already confirmed as taking part are Australia; Canada; Japan and the United States.

The tournament will take place from 11 to 16 October 2015 at the Copperbox, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London (the venue for Goalball during the 2012 Games).