Gaza launches sixth annual wheelchair basketball tournament

Players of Al-Salam and Al-Jarih in action during the first match of the Wheelchair Basketball League, organized with the cooperation of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Palestinian Wheelchair Basketball Federation and the Palestinian Paralympic Committee, in Gaza City, Gaza on October 01, 2023 [Mustafa Hassona – Anadolu Agency]

The sixth annual wheelchair basketball tournament kicked off in the besieged Gaza Strip yesterday with 11 teams vying for the trophy, Anadolu reported.

The tournament is organised by the Palestinian Paralympic Committee in cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) at the Palestine Stadium in Gaza City. Technical Director of the Paralympic Committee, Musa Kadoum, said six men’s and five women’s teams will compete in this year’s tournament which will last a month and a half.

ICRC spokesman, Hisham Muhanna, said persons with disabilities have made many achievements over the past eight years, with the first wheelchair basketball tournament being held in 2015.

The tournament is organised as part of the physical rehabilitation programme for people with disabilities that aims to integrate them into their communities through sports and enhance physical health and psychological well being, he added.

It also “contributes to realising their hopes and ambitions in overcoming obstacles,” said Muhanna, who hopes the programme will help people with disabilities “achieve any change.”

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