The Irish Wheelchair Basketball squad is set to travel to Samokov, Bulgaria this week to compete in the European Championships, Division C, with the hopes of gaining promotion to Division B.
After narrowly missing out on promotion to Division B back in 2023, Head Coach Con Coughlan has selected his 10-man strong Irish Wheelchair Basketball squad who hope to rectify missing out two years ago.
Titans Galway Wheelchair Basketball player, Stephen Melvin, is set not just to represent Ireland but lead them as captain in their bid to win promotion.
The honour isn’t lost on Melvin, who shares his pride in leading his country:
“It’s a great honour to be selected as captain for the Euros. Wheelchair Basketball has played a huge part in my life, and it’s never lost on me how lucky I am to have the opportunities to play for my country and now lead a great team.”
In the pool stage, Ireland has been drawn to face off against Sweden, Finland, Armenia and Belgium.
If Ireland finish within the top two places of Pool B, they’ll progress to the semi-finals, where they can potentially face Serbia, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Hungary or Denmark.
All strong opposition is ranked within the top 30 of the IWBF European standings, with Ireland in third place at 21.
Although Ireland will be striving for gold, they can still gain promotion by finishing in the top two.
The 10-man squad selected to represent Ireland at the IWBF European Championships, Division C are:
Jack Quinn (Rebel Wheelers Multi-Sport Club, Cork)
Stephen Melvin captain (Titans Galway Wheelchair Basketball Club)
Joseph Hargrow (Limerick Celtics, Limerick)
Tom Barnes (ADM Encoy, Gran Canaria) from Co. Wexford
Matthew Rollston (NI Knights Wheelchair Basketball Club, Antrim)
Jack Mangan (South East Swifts Wheelchair Basketball Club, Carlow/Kilkenny)
Darragh O’Regan (Rebel Wheelers Mutli-Sport Club, Cork)
Conor Coughlan (Rebel Wheelers Mutli-Sport Club, Cork)
Adam Drummond (Rebel Wheelers Mutli-Sport Club, Cork)
Neil Carlisle (Mohawks Wheelchair Basketball, Middlesbrough, UK) from Co. Antrim
Helping Ireland in their bid to move up to Division B will be Head Coach Con Coughlan, Assistant Coaches Alan Dineen and Richard Sargent, Team Manager Adrian Donoghue and Team Physio Jana Hargrow-Prihonska.
Coughlan shared how preparation has been going and said that they’re braced for a fight but ready to give it their all.
“Preparations have gone well with great buy in from the squad. We don’t play on the first day of the competition so we will get to see the other teams playing.”
He continued: “Both groups are strong, but for the moment we have to concentrate on our side of the draw and take it one game at a time. On day two of the competition, we have two games facing Sweden and Finland, followed by Armenia on day three and lastly Belgium. We are conscious there are some quality nations in our group with two of the sides previously playing in the A & B Championships. We’re going to leave it all out on the court and give it our best from all involved.”
Ireland’s European Championships campaign begins on Monday 8th September, where they face Sweden at 7:00am Irish Standard Time (IST). The full schedule for the Pool phase is as follows:
Monday 8th September:
7:00am IST Ireland vs Sweden
4:00PM IST Finland vs Ireland
Tuesday 9th September:
9:15am IST Ireland vs Armenia
Wednesday 10th September:
11:30am IST Belgium vs Ireland
All games will be broadcast live via IWBF Europe’s YouTube channel.
