AAWD
Australian Athletes with a Disability held its AGM on Saturday 8 October in Sydney. Tanya Cox, Amanda Garland and Robert Cole retired from the Board of Directors by rotation. Tanya Cox and Amanda Garland re-nominated and were re-elected unopposed. Bob Cole decided not to re-stand for the Board. As there were no nominations received, this position remains vacant - the Board is seeking appropriate nominees and will appoint the fifth Director in due course. We would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank Bob for all of the work he has done over the past three years on the AAWD Board and we wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

WSA
The Board, members and other invited guests of Wheelchair Sports Australia convened in Melbourne 21-23 October for a series of meetings, including the AGM. At this year's AGM Barry Barker and Michael Godfrey-Roberts retired from the Board by rotation. Both re-stood and were re-elected unopposed.

The weekend produced much discussion and many positive outcomes. We would like to particularly thank Tanya Cox (AAWD) and Darren Peters (APC) for attending and addressing the membership.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Max Kelleher (CEO), Jeremy Long (President) and their team at Wheelchair Sports Victoria for hosting the weekend.

IWAS
At the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS) General Assembly held in Brazil recently, the following were elected to form the IWAS Executive Board for the period 2006-2009:

President:	Paul DePace	USA
Vice President:	Juan Palau Francas	Spain
Secretary General	Maura Strange	Great Britain
Hon Treasurer	Bob Paterson	Great Britain
Member at Large	Duncan Campbell	Canada
Member at Large	Seyed Amir Hosseini	IR of Iran
Member at Large	Radka Kucirkova	Czech Republic
Member at Large	Oriol Martinez	Spain
Member at Large	Karl Vilhelm Nielsen	Denmark
Member at Large	Rudi Van den Abbeele	France

2007 NATIONAL JUNIOR GAMES FOR ATHLETES WITH A DISABILITY
Wheelchair Sports Australia is pleased to announce that NSW Wheelchair Sports Association will once again host the National Junior Games for Athletes with a Disability in 2007. This represents the first time a state has hosted back to back Junior Games and we thank Jim O'Brien (CEO), Michael Godfrey-Roberts (President) and the team at NSWWSA for offering to host once again. We wish them all the best in the lead up to the games and are sure they will do a great job once again. More information regarding the timing and format of the games will be made available soon.

SPORTS NEWS

Archery
World Archery Championships
Congratulations to Cain Beckett who had his first International win at the World Archery Championships held in Spain. Cain was unfortunately knocked out in the round of 16 by the eventual World Champion, however has gained much from the experience and is looking forward to his next competitions.

Basketball
IWBF ASIA OCEANIA CHAMPIONSHIPS 2005 - DAEJEON KOREA:
(courtesy Basketball Australia)
The Australian men's and women's wheelchair basketball teams have both qualified for the 2006 World Championships in Amsterdam after progressing through their qualifying tournaments in Korea undefeated.

The Gliders (women) started slowly in their final against Japan, with many scoring opportunities going awry early. The Gliders were however, able to go into quarter time with a one-point advantage.

The Australians ran out six-point winners to take the top spot in the Oceania Qualifiers and win their way to Amsterdam next year.

Particular congratulations goes to Kylie Gauci on being named MVP of the tournament.

The men's team, the Rollers, also went through the tournament undefeated and won their final match against Japan, 54-46.

Slam Down Under
Congratulations to NSW Wheelchair Sports Association on the hosting of a very successful Slam Down Under tournament. Teams traveled from across NSW and interstate to take part and the competition was hard-fought. For further information and results, please contact Tiffany at NSWWSA.

Boccia
Asia and South Pacific Boccia Championships
Congratulations to all athletes and team staff who represented Australia at the Asia and South Pacific Boccia Championships in September. Australia's best results were Lyn Coleman and Laura Solomon both reaching the quarter finals of the BC3 Singles, they followed this up when joined by Angie McDonald for 4th place in the BC3 Teams event. Fiona Lyons brought home a Bronze medal in the BC4 Pairs, where she teamed up with a player from Macau.

Handcycling
Wild West Handcycling Tour
WA Wheelchair Sports Association will be hosting the Wild West Handcycling Tour in March 2006. Current indications have 25 International and 20 Australian athletes contesting the event. The high class field includes 2004 Athens Paralympic Medallists Hans Mayfhofer (Austria), Alejandro Albor (USA), Johan Reekers (Holland) and Marcel Pipek (Czech Republic).

For more information on this event, please contact Gary Lees at WA Wheelchair Sports Association.

Lawn Bowls
2006 Nationals
Wheelchair Sports Australia is please to announce that the 2006 Lawn Bowls National Championships are to be hosted by Wheelchair Sports Victoria in April 2006 at Darrebin Bowls Club. It is intended for this to be a Multi-Disability event and all states will receive information soon regards athlete nominations. We wish the team at WSV all the best for the organising of this event and are sure they will do a great job. Bowls Australia have also agreed to come on Board and assist with the organising of the event.

Wheelchair Rugby
Chris Handy Cup
In another hard fought Chris Handy Cup series, the Australian team went down 3 games to 2 to New Zealand. All matches were close and the series came down to a decider in the fifth game. It was a pleasing start to the team's build up under new coaches Evan Bennett and Brad Dubberley. The team next head to South Africa on 28th November for the Oceania Zonal Championships - where we are the defending champions.

Shooting
Para-Oceania Shooting Championships
The inaugural Para-Oceania Shooting Championships will be held in Brisbane 30 October - 5 November. This is the first international shooting event in Australia since the 2000 Paralympic Games and the first ever event in Australia to carry rankings points as a qualifying event for the Paralympic Games - shooters will be able to qualify for Beijing at this event. Previously, Australians had to travel to competitions in Europe to qualify for the Games.

The Championships, being held in conjunction with the able-bodied Oceania Championships, have attracted 47 competitors from 6 countries. Participants include Sweden's Paralympic shooting superstar Jonas Jacobsson, who won 4 Paralympic Gold medals in Athens and shoots full-time.

In addition to competing in the Para-Oceania Championships, Australia's Ashley Adams will represent Australia for the first time in able-bodied competition when he shoots the 50m Prone Rifle event on Saturday 5 November, fulfilling a long-cherished dream.

Volleyball
Women's Sitting Volleyball Coach
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Glenn Pyne as the Australian Women's Sitting Volleyball Coach. Glen will be working hard in the coming months to prepare a team for the Asia/Oceania Championships to be held in Newcastle in February 2006.

October/November Calendar of Events

November
4 - 6	Tennis	NSW Wheelchair Tennis Open	Woollongong, NSW
23 - 3 Dec	Rugby	IWRF Zonal Championships	South Africa
27 - Dec. 3	Multi-sports	Pacific School Games	Melbourne, Victoria
2006
January
22 - 27	Athletics	Summer Down Under	Sydney NSW
26	Road	OZ Day 10K	Sydney NSW
26	Athletics	Telstra A-Series Meet	Canberra, ACT

 

 

 

 

 

 

Subject to alterations
A full Calendar of Events can be found at http://www.sports.org.au/calendar.html


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