Wheelchair rugby features aspects of many games, except one — rugby.
First, toss in a bit of wheelchair basketball, stir in the mayhem of a “dodge ‘em car’’ ride, the spills of ice hockey and the blocking of American football.
Second, and this is easy to forget, the four players on the basketball-court size floor are all quadriplegics — athletes who’ve lost some function in each of their four limbs.
Third, always remember what the game was called when it was invented 31 years ago in Canada — “Murderball.”
“It’s physical and that’s why we do it,’’ said US player Mark Zupan, after the US defeated China 65-30 yesterday in the opening game of the sport at the Beijing Paralympics.
Zupan was paralyzed in 1993 when he fell out of the back of a pick-up truck, a crash that sent him sprawling into a canal where he spent 14 hours clinging to a tree branch to save his life.
Other teammates have similar stories. Captain Bryan Kirkland was injured after a “bad spill” on a motorcycle 17 years ago.
“This sport is a physical sport,” Kirkland said. “Just because we have a disability it doesn’t change the fire to compete.”
The rules are basic. Four players pass, dribble occasionally, and race up and down the hardwood in wheelchairs smashing into each other. The aim is to carry a white ball across a goal line at either end. Players can’t make physical contact with an opponent’s body, but most anything else is allowed.
A foul earns a player time in the “sin bin,” leaving the opposition to play with a man advantage.
Like a few of his teammates, Zupan has a slightly menacing look, sporting a red goatee, shaved head and a few tattoos. His wheelchair is dented and battered, and many of the players have injured fingers.
Two Chinese players took spills in jarring collisions and American Will Groulx also toppled to the floor, pulling his chair over on top of him.
Groulx scored 16 points to lead the US with 12 for Sumner and 11 for Zupan.
The game is viewer friendly — not too many rules and lots of non-stop play.
Zupan believes it deserves a place on television.
“We want people to see it, we want the world to see it and put it on mainstream sport TV,” Zupan said.
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