‘From the first hoop to best-of-seven play-offs’ |29 May 2025
Bel Air’s Jimmy Elizabeth trapped by Michel Malbrook and Jimmy Esparon of Plaisance (Photo: Seychelles NATION Archives)
A brief insight into the history of Seychelles’ basketball – Part 2
Wheelchair basketball has its roots in the United States, where it was first played by World War II veterans at Corona Naval Station in California and Framingham, Massachusetts.
Around the same time, British war veterans began playing wheelchair netball at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire, Great Britain.
This initiative was led by Dr Ludwig Guttmann, a German-born neurosurgeon who is widely recognised as the founder of the Paralympic Games.
The first national wheelchair basketball tournament took place in Illinois, USA, featuring six teams. This same year marked the formation of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) in the United States.
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