PE hosts SA wheelchair basketball champs

PORT Elizabeth will host this year’s Vodacom National Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Championships, which start today and continue until Saturday, at the Raymond Mhlaba Indoor Sport Centre in Motherwell.

The games, which are now also known as the Dee Oliver Cup, are also in commemoration of Dee Oliver who was the first Eastern Cape player to captain the South African women’s wheelchair basketball national team.

Oliver died tragically in 2007 while making her way to Bloemfontein to represent EP in the championships.

The trophy was later named after her.

Six teams, from six different provinces – Free State, North West, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Western Cape and Eastern Cape – will be participating in the games.

Wheelchair Basketball SA (WBSA) director and Wheelchair Basketball Eastern Cape chairman Sibongile Fondine said it was a perfect opportunity for the community to celebrate the spirit, determination, courage and achievements of disabled women in sport.

Fondine said the tournament would also give the High-Performance Coaching Commission staff the opportunity to assess athletes ahead of selection for the national women’s squad.

This will represent South Africa at the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation African World Cup qualifiers.

These games will take place in Durban in November.

WBSA chief executive Charles Saunders said the partnership with provinces and Vodacom over the past 18 years had established a solid base from grassroots to performance athletes.

“[The partnership] has provided the foundation with not only skills development but national selection, and has elevated our athletes into the world arenas,” Saunders said.

Schedule:

Today – Day 1: 1pm Western Cape Mothercity Wheelers vs Free State Rollers, 3pm Gauteng Lionesses vs KZN Warriors, 5pm Free State Rollers vs Eastern Cape Angels, 7pm NWP Stinging Bees vs Gauteng Lionesses