Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) is pleased to announce its sponsorship of the International Wheelchair Rugby Federation (IWRF) 2015 regional competition for Asia and Oceania. The games, dubbed “Mitsubishi Corporation Asia-Oceania Championship 2015”, are scheduled to take place from October 29 to November 1 in Chiba, Japan.

 

The tournament, held twice a year, is the region’s top competition and forms the stage for selection of the regional champion for Asia and Oceania. MC’s objective for supporting this year’s Asia-Oceania Championship is to help promote and raise awareness about wheelchair rugby. Not limiting its support to sponsorship, MC will, among other things, also be dispatching employees to volunteer at the event as part of its overall contribution to making the Championship a success.

 

Under its “DREAM AS ONE.” Project, launched in October of last year, MC has been engaged in a series of activities aimed at providing support for para-sports and athletes engaged in para-sports. This is also part of a broader objective to promote recognition and understanding of the genre. An official partner of the Japanese Para-Sports Association, MC also provided support to Japan’s national wheelchair rugby tournament, held May 22 to 24, 2015, in which MC employees also took part as volunteers.

 

MC intends to continue these initiatives with the expectation that they will help to raise awareness about and expand support for para-sports.

Official Name:               

Mitsubishi Corporation Asia-Oceania Championship 2015

 

Date:                               

October 29 - November 1, 2015

 

Venue:                            

Chiba Port Arena, Chiba, Japan

 

Participating Teams:   

Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan

 

Format:                          

4-team double round robin (for a total of 12 matches) 

Medal Games:

-Finals (Semi-finalist 1 vs Semi-finalist 2)

-3rd place playoff

 

Organizers:

International Wheelchair Rugby Federation (IWRF); Japan Wheelchair Rugby Federation

 

Patronage:                     

Chiba Prefecture; Chiba City; Japanese Para-Sports Association; Japan Paralympic

 

Committee:

Japan Rugby Football Union

 

Sponsors:

Mitsubishi Corporation (top sponsor) and others

 

Wheelchair rugby is a competitive sport played by athletes with impairments (due to cervical cord injury, limb amputation, cerebral palsy, etc.). In a game, players score points by carrying a spherical ball to the opponent’s goal line while passing or dribbling the ball or holding it on their lap. Allowing players to tackle the opposing players for the purpose of blocking their offensive, wheelchair rugby is the only competitive sport that officially recognizes intentional collision between wheelchairs.

 

Created in Canada in 1977, wheelchair rugby appeared in the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics for the first time as a demonstration event, and has been treated as an official event since the 2000 Sidney Paralympics. In Japan, wheelchair rugby was introduced after the Atlanta Paralympics, and the Japan Wheelchair Rugby Federation was established in 1997. Japan’s national team currently ranks fourth in the world, following Australia, Canada and the U.S.A., in that order.