January 2008

2010 World Wheelchair Rugby Championships to be held in Vancouver, Canada

January 18, 2008

The International Wheelchair and Amputee Sport Federation (IWAS) announced today that the bid to host the 2010 World Wheelchair Rugby Championships has been awarded to Vancouver, Canada. The event will take place from September 16 to 25, 2010, at the Richmond Olympic Oval, a new sports facility under construction for the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. Bid Committees from Vancouver and Glasgow met with an IWAS site selection committee in Ottawa, Canada, on January 12 and 13 to make final presentations. After receiving the final recommendation of the selection committee, the IWAS Executive Board met to make the final decision.

Announcing the winning bid, IWAS President Paul DePace said “I would like to thank both bidding organizations for the monumental effort that has been expended in developing such good bids. It was a difficult decision for the Board to make, and our vote in the end was extremely close due to the high quality of both bids. It’s certainly a testimony to the hard work put in by IWAS Wheelchair Rugby over the years to raise the profile of its sport and its athletes.”

After the bid presentations, Brad Mikkelsen, President of the International Wheelchair Rugby Federation (IWRF), said “It was a great experience to have two very strong bids to compare. We felt that we couldn’t make a bad choice between the two, this would have been a great world event at either location.” Following the announcement, Eron Main, IWRF Competitions Commissioner, said “I look forward to working with the Vancouver organizing committee over the next two years as this event comes together. The IWRF is excited about the opportunity to compete in such a first-class sports venue, and to build on the excitement and community support for sport for athletes with a disability coming out of the 2010 Games.”

Wheelchair rugby is a team sport for quadriplegic athletes, created in Winnipeg, Canada, in 1977. Played indoors, it is a fast-paced and exciting contact sport. The 2006 Wheelchair Rugby World Championships were held in Christchurch, New Zealand; the United States finished first out of the twelve countries participating. 2010 host country Canada finished third.

IWAS is a multi-sport international federation for wheelchair and amputee athletes that enables the growth and achievements of persons with a physical disability in sport. The IWRF is the sport section of IWAS with responsibility to govern the sport of wheelchair rugby internationally.

To download this release as a PDF file, click here