The Basketball Team for People in Wheelchairs Sofia – Balkan participated in its first friendly basketball tournament in Oradea, Romania between 9-11 September 2011. The Sofia-Balkan team ranked second, after defeating Romania’s host team with 20 points. Poland’s first team was ranked.
The play and ranking of the three teams are the result of the different preparations of each player, as well as the varying degrees of paralysis – some of them with birth defects, others are the result of an accident. For example, the Polish team has been professionally engaged in wheelchair basketball for 10 years and the Romanian team for about 8 years.
The event is socially oriented and is organized for the seventh consecutive Oradea. At the invitation of the Bulgarian basketball team for wheelchair users Sofia – Balkan, the next friendly team meeting will take place in Varna in November and will be organized by the basketball team for people in wheelchairs from Varna and Rotary club “Varna” .
Due to the complex mobility of wheelchair players – the trip to Romania took 16 hours to the Bulgarian team, sponsors were sought to provide funds for the better development of this sport such as: special wheelchairs, coaches, suitable halls, participation in more competitions and tournaments, as well as the ability to increase and improve the level of play of individual players and the entire team.
So far, the team has found support in the face of the Bulgarian Basketball Federation, the National Sports Academy and the Dutch Basketball Federation as well as socially responsible companies such as DHL, Telerik, KFC and Raiffeisenbank.
