David Eng, who was team captain for Canada at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, is one of eight players from around the world ruled ineligible for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics

Photo credit:  Wheelchair Basketball Canada

By Teddy Katz 

The controversy surrounding one of the Paralympics most popular events continues to grow leading up to the Tokyo 2020 Games, now due to take place in August 2021. A group of Paralympic athletes from around the world are calling on the International Paralympic Committee to “show compassion” and to reinstate players who have been ruled ineligible for the wheelchair basketball competition at the Tokyo Paralympics. 

Global athletes from 10 of the 14 countries who have qualified for the Tokyo 2020 (now 2021) Paralympics wheelchair basketball tournament released a joint statement today calling for the immediate reinstatement of the players. 

In the statement, they say “athletes are being used as pawns in a governance dispute between the International Paralympic Committee and the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation.” 

According to the IPC, so far eight existing wheelchair basketball players from several different countries have been deemed not to have an eligible impairment to compete in Tokyo 2020.   

Among that group is long-time Canadian captain David Eng, who was born with one leg shorter than the other and who was Canada’s flag bearer at the 2016 Rio Paralympics. 

His teammate Bo Hedges was one of the athletes who signed today’s statement along with the rest of the Canadian men’s and women’s wheelchair basketball teams. 

 “The entire situation is against the fundamental rights of athletes to compete and is an example of the backward state of sport governance,” Hedges says in the statement. 

 In an interview with Think Redefined, Hedges says the athletes are speaking out so that the voices of the eight athletes who have had the sport taken away from them are heard. 

“It’s very disheartening and you’d be lost in that time.  It’s pretty challenging for them and for us as teammates to see them go through it, it’s very heartbreaking.” 

Hedges says the classification process isn’t complete so other athletes remain in limbo and could also be ruled ineligible.  That’s led to confusion and added stress and is why the global athletes’ group is asking the IPC for a transition period.  It wants the IPC and the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation to work together to implement the changes after Tokyo. Especially in this time when COVID-19 is so prevalent, Hedges says this isn’t something athletes should be worrying about. 

“There’s so much uncertainty whether the games are even going to happen.  And whether we are going to be able to train full-time and compete again, those kinds of things are weighing on us.” 

In the statement, the athletes say they hold both the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation and International Paralympic Committee responsible for not addressing and resolving these issues sooner. 

For its part, the IPC says since the end of 2015 it has been trying to work with all International Sport Federations to ensure their athletes comply with its classification code which determines athletes who are eligible to participate in the Games. 

But it says the International Wheelchair Sport Federation was so slow to act that in January the IPC had to threaten to remove wheelchair basketball entirely from the Tokyo 2020 Games.  

“No sport is above the rules,” says Craig Spence, Chief Brand and Communications Officer for the International Paralympic Committee, adding that the IPC’s Classification Code was approved overwhelmingly by the IPC Membership after two years of consultation. 

The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation was allowed to compete in Tokyo after it finally agreed to review eligibility for players, which led to the eight players being deemed ineligible in June. 

Spence says the IPC’s goal was, among other things, to protect the rights of all eligible players and to avoid a repeat of the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games when it was subsequently revealed that several non-eligible players had formed part of the men’s gold medal winning team for athletes with an intellectual disability. 

Spence adds, “the whole IPC Governing Board and IPC Athletes Council sympathises greatly with the players recently found non-eligible and acknowledge the impact this has had on teams preparing for Tokyo.” 

The controversy over what abilities make an athlete eligible to participate in the Paralympics highlights how at times international sport rules and national policies are on a collision course. In some countries including Canada, wheelchair basketball has a long history of inclusion. Able-bodied athletes have been allowed to join teams in this country to help the sport’s grassroots development. It gives able-bodied athletes a new appreciation for Para sport.   

The sport’s governing body here, Wheelchair Basketball Canada, issued a statement last month saying that isn’t going to change. 

“Our mission is to develop, support and promote wheelchair basketball programs and services for ALL Canadians.  That includes people of all abilities – those with disabilities, minimal disabilities and those who are able-bodied,” the statement said. 

It went on to say, “their involvement elevates the game and is critical to the growth and success of the sport in Canada.  Recognizing that in wheelchair basketball, the chair is the great equalizer and the classification system takes care of the rest; we maintain that it doesn’t matter if you have a disability or not.”