Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The Wheelchair Rugby Federation of India (WRFI) plans to organise the National Para Rugby Championship for the first time in Bhopal from September 20-25 next year to hunt for players with potential.
They will be trained for participation in the Para Asian Games 2026 and Para Olympics 2028 at Los Angeles. A 10-day training camp for players begins in the city from January 15 for the 8th Championship.
At present there are 222 registered Wheelchair Rugby players in the country. None of them is from Madhya Pradesh. The Federation plans to organise district-wise camps to identify players for strengthening the Indian team.
Vivek Parihar from Gwalior in the state was elected as the President of the Federation about a fortnight back. Dr Anil Kumar Aghary, Joint Secretary of the body also hails from Madhya Pradesh.
Invented in 1977 in Winnipeg, Canada, Wheelchair Rugby gained global recognition when the International Wheelchair Rugby Federation (IWRF) was established in 1993. One year later, it became an official Paralympic sport, and now more than forty countries participate in the game.
Parihar said that for the first time, the Wheelchair Rugby team from India will be participating in the Para Asian Games to be held in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, from October 18-24, 2026. If we do well in these games, we can hope to send our team to the 2028 LA Paralympics, he said.
Aghary said that India has been consistently doing well in Para games. In the Paris Olympics, we won six medals. In the Paralympics that followed we brought home 29 medals, he said. So, we should focus on para athletes, he added.
