First Wheelchair Basketball League in city today

he league, created by non-profit organisation Project Mumbai, is part of a larger mission to make Mumbai more accessible, and draw the attention of non-challenged citizens to para-sports

It’s wheels up for 60 players this weekend, as Mumbai hosts a first-of-its-kind Wheelchair Basketball Premier League, featuring players aged 10 to 35, from Mumbai and Pune.

he five teams in the league include 20 national- and international-level wheelchair basketball players, as well as players affiliated to the Armed Forces Paraplegic Rehabilitation Centre (PRC) in Khadki, Pune (HT Photo)

The league, created by non-profit organisation Project Mumbai, is part of a larger mission to make Mumbai more accessible, and draw the attention of non-challenged citizens to para-sports.

“We’re using sport as a means of addressing two issues: athletes’ access to infrastructure, and awareness about accessibility in the city,” said Shishir Joshi, co-founder and chief executive of Project Mumbai.

The five teams in the league include 20 national- and international-level wheelchair basketball players, as well as players affiliated to the Armed Forces Paraplegic Rehabilitation Centre (PRC) in Khadki, Pune. The league matches will be held today (at Nagpada’s Mastan YMCA) and tomorrow (at YMCA International House, Mumbai Central), 4 pm onwards. Entry is free and open to all.

There will be three games on each day — the Mumbai men’s team against the Pune men’s team, the Mumbai women’s team against the Pune women’s team, and an exhibition match by the PRC players on Saturday, and mixed games and cross matches on Sunday.

Project Mumbai has been working with some of these players for four months, enabling access to infrastructure, sponsorship, coaching and physiotherapy. There are now plans to make the league an annual affair and take it to other cities as well.

“We aim to recruit at least 1,000 such players across Mumbai and Maharashtra, over time, and get at least 100 institutions to make their premises more accessible. So few of Mumbai’s basketball courts, for instance, have washrooms large enough to accommodate a wheelchair,” Joshi said.

To that end, Project Mumbai takes wheelchair basketball to schools and residential communities that have basketball courts. “We played a game 10 days ago at the Hiranandani Foundation School in Powai, where we invited local residents to come and watch,” said Joshi. “Following the game, we invite able-bodied individuals to sit in a wheelchair and attempt to throw a basketball. This gives people a sense of excitement and awareness.”

Matches like these serve as a tremendous driver for players to come forward and families to change their perspective on para-sports, said Rakshanda Birwadkar, whose 10-year-old brother, Shreyas Birwadkar, is on the Mumbai team. “Shreyas is the youngest player there and he is already in the company of such great sportsmen. This gives us hope that one day he can have a chance at being an international-level player,” Rakshanda said.

“By watching the players in action, people will be able to dispel a lot of misconceptions about how people in a wheelchair can’t do anything and always need help,” added Captain Louis George Meprath, a retired naval officer and coach of the Mumbai team.