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Wheelchair rugby, (originally murderball, and known as quad rugby in the United States), is a team sport for athletes with a disability. It is practised in over twenty-five countries around the world and is a summer Paralympic sport. The US name is based on the requirement that all wheelchair rugby players need to have disabilities that include at least some loss of function in at least three limbs. Although most have spinal cord injuries, players may also qualify through multiple amputations, neurological disorders or other medical conditions. Players are assigned a functional level in points, and each team is limited to fielding a team with a total of eight points. Wheelchair rugby is played indoors on a hardwood court, and physical contact between wheelchairs is an integral part of the game - with the rules including elements from wheelchair basketball, ice hockey, handball and rugby union. The sport is governed by the International Wheelchair Rugby Federation (IWRF) which was established in 1993. ==History== Wheelchair rugby was created to be a sport for persons with quadriplegia in 1976 by five Canadian wheelchair athletes, Jerry Terwin, Duncan Campbell, Randy Dueck, Paul LeJeune and Chris Sargent,〔〔("History of Wheelchair Rugby" ), iwasf.com〕 At that time, wheelchair basketball was the most common team sport for wheelchair users. That sport's physical requirement for players to dribble and shoot baskets relegated quadriplegic athletes, with functional impairments to both their upper and lower limbs, to supporting roles. The new sport — originally called ''murderball'' due to its aggressive, full-contact nature — was designed to allow quadriplegic athletes with a wide range of functional ability levels to play integral offensive and defensive roles. Murderball was first introduced into Australia in 1981. The Australian team competing in the Stoke Mandeville games in England were invited by the Canadians to select a team to play them in a demonstration game. After receiving limited instructions on the rules and skills of the game the "contest" began. Following a fast and very competitive exchange, Australia won. The game was then born and brought back to Australia where it has flourished. Murderball was introduced to the United States in 1981 by Brad Mikkelsen. With the aid of the University of North Dakota's Disabled Student Services, he formed the first American team, the Wallbangers. The first North American competition was held in 1982. In the late 1980s, the name of the sport outside the United States was officially changed from ''Murderball'' to ''Wheelchair Rugby''. In the United States, the sport's name was changed to ''Quad Rugby''. The first international tournament was held in 1989 in Toronto, Canada, with teams from Canada, the United States and Great Britain. In 1990, Wheelchair Rugby first appeared at the International Stoke Mandeville Games as an exhibition event,〔("Rugby" ), europaralympic.org/ 〕 and in 1993 the sport was recognized as an official international sport for athletes with a disability by the International Stoke Mandeville Wheelchair Sports Federation (ISMWSF). In the same year, the International Wheelchair Rugby Federation (IWRF) was established as a sports section of ISMWSF to govern the sport. The first IWRF World Wheelchair Rugby Championships were held in Nottwil, Switzerland, in 1995 and wheelchair rugby appeared as a demonstration sport at the 1996 Summer Paralympics in Atlanta. The sport has had full medal status since the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney, Australia and there are now twenty-five active countries in international competition, with several others developing the sport. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Wheelchair rugby」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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