Aussie wheelchair basketball squads named for World Challenge Cup

The Australian Gliders and Rollers teams have been selected ahead of the Mitsubishi Electric World Challenge Cup tournament to be held in Tokyo, Japan from August 29^th to 1^st September.

Four men and two women from the NSW Institute of Sport have been selected in the squads. Clarence McCarthy-Grogan, Luke Pople, Brett Stibners and Michael Auprince will represent Australia with the Rollers, whilst Maryanne Latu and Georgia Munro Cook will line up for the Gliders.

Four nations will compete on the men’s side of the tournament in Tokyo, including host team Japan. Iran who placed 4^th at the World Championships and Korea. In the women’s tournament, our Australian Gliders will have a five-game series taking on host nation Japan.

These games will provide important preparation for both teams, leading into the Asia Oceania Zone (AOZ) qualifying tournament for Tokyo 2020 to be held in Pattaya, Thailand later this year (27 November – 8 December).

Rollers head coach Craig Friday has been focused on developing flexibility with new line-ups as well as fitness, speed and agility of the entire squad, with these attributes’ paramount to their style of play.

The Gliders team, led by interim head coach Stephen Charlton, will have a great opportunity to test themselves following a tough home series over a very strong USA group. This five-game series taking on Japan will provide the Aussie women with a clear understanding of key areas of improvement heading in to the AOZ championships at the end of the year.

Mitsubishi Electric World Challenge Cup games commence Thursday 29^th August and finals games take place on Sunday 1^st September.

The Australian Rollers & Gliders teams for Tokyo 2019