The Good Luck Beijing 2008 Wheelchair Basketball International Invitational Tournament is in full swing with the first day of games completed. In the women's division China women lost to Japan 47-62 and Germany defeated Canada the reigning World Champions 65-57 in overtime. In the men's division Australia defeated China 75-46 and Canada the current World Champions defeated The Netherlands 69-31.

For full results and pictures please visit the IWBF web site at www.iwbf.org

In other news IWBF announced that the draw for the pools for the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games will take place on Wednesday, January 23 at 10:00 AM Beijing time.

Ron Coppenrath, President of Competition for IWBF today announced the pairings for the draw. In the men's division the pairs are: (1) Canada/USA (2) Australia/Iran (3) Sweden/Great Britain (4) Germany/Israel (5) Brazil/South Africa (6) China/Japan
In the women's division the pairs are: (1) Canada/USA (2) Germany/the Netherlands (3) Australia/Japan (4) Mexico/Brazil (6) China/Great Britain.

IWBF and BOCOG are very excited about this draw as it is the first one to take place in Beijing. Maureen Orchard will conduct the draw with the assistance of Coppenrath and players from the Chinese team. Each pair will be placed in a container and Orchard will invite representatives from BOCOG and the wheelchair basketball community in attendance to draw a name. The first name out will be placed in Pool A with the second name going into Pool B.

In the IWBF system, China as host nation will be allowed to choose the pool they wish to be placed in.

Once all the Pools are completed Orchard will conduct a draw to determine the number of each team for the purpose of determining their place in the schedule.

Look for the results of the draw on the IWBF web site.

IWBF Secretariat
Phone: 1-204-632-6475
Fax: 1-204-697-2734
Email: IWBFSecretariat@aol.com
Email: IWBFPresident@mts.net
www.iwbf.org

Wheelchair Sports Australia Ltd
PO Box 4083 Homebush South NSW 2140
http://www.sports.org.au