Sunday 17th July 2022, saw GB Wheelchair Rugby achieve another historic gold-medal win – this time at the World Games in Alabama, USA, competing in the low-point wheelchair rugby event. Low-point rugby is another format of wheelchair rugby where only players with a classification of 1.5 and below can compete. GB swept the pool stages comfortably winning all five games in the lead up to the gold-medal match vs the second-place Japan side.
GB dominated Japan on day two of the event 46-27 thus becoming a favourable opponent to meet in the final. But with experienced Paralympians in the Japan squad led by seasoned coach Kevin Orr, GB knew Japan would come back with a new game plan and would fight until the end – which was definitely the story for the first half but GB’s defence caused all kinds of problems for Japan, continually forcing turnovers and converting them into tries. The team’s domination continued and GB marched their way to claim the first ever wheelchair rugby gold medal at a World Games.
While the whole team played fantastically under the leadership of co-captains Ryan Cowling and Kylie Grimes, Nick Cummins was by far the standout player of the tournament. Nick out-paced and out-classed the opposition every step of the way, scoring a whopping 91 tries ahead of the gold-medal match. His performance was recognised on Sunday and was awarded the ‘Athlete of the Day’ award.
The World Games is known for being a staging ground for sports as they make a push to be included in the Olympic Games. This year is the first time that a disability sport has ever featured at the World Games and GBWR wait eagerly to find out if low-point wheelchair rugby will remain at the Games.
CEO of GB Wheelchair Rugby Jason Brisbane said: “I am incredibly proud of the team’s effort at the low-point wheelchair rugby event at the World Games. To be involved in the first ever disability sport to be staged at the World Games and then to go on and win it against some of the top nations in the world is a fantastic achievement. All the athletes across the nations put on a fantastic show proving that low-point wheelchair rugby should be part of the games long term.”