The draw, which took place at the Swissotel, Beijing, will see Britain’s women face Paralympic champions United States, Australia, Brazil and Germany in the group stages, while Britain’s men will play hosts China, Israel, Brazil and the USA as well as Athens 2004 silver medallists Australia.

 

Sir Philip Craven, President of the International Paralympic Committee and one of Britain's three International Olympic Committee members, attended the launch and gave a short welcome speech to say how pleased he was to attend the first draw for groups for the Games.
 
Maureen Orchard, President of the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation oversaw the draw assisted by members of the wheelchair basketball competition management team and players from the Chinese men’s and women’s teams.

 

Now the draw has taken place, the final schedule for the wheelchair basketball competitions will be completed and released in the coming weeks.

 

Britain’s women qualified for the Beijing Paralympic Games after beating Spain to bronze at the 2007 European Wheelchair Basketball Championships, while the men took silver at the same event to book their place at next year’s Games. 

 

The Wheelchair basketball competitions at the Beijing Paralympic Games get under way on September 7, 2008 with the finals taking place on September 15 and 16, 2008. 

The pools for the IIIX Paralympic Games wheelchair basketball are:

Women:
  Order    Group A                       Group B
  1             Great Britain               China   
  2             USA                              Canada   
  3             Australia                      Japan   
  4             Brazil                            Mexico   
  5             Germany                     The Netherlands

Men:
 Order     Group A                         Group B   
  1             Germany                       Israel   
  2             South Africa                  Brazil   
  3             Japan                             China   
  4             Canada                         USA   
  5             Sweden                         Great Britain   
  6              Iran                                Australia