Google continued its long tradition of celebrating worldwide events and important dates with creative doodles, this time around by paying tribute to wheelchair basketball. (Full Coverage | More Sports News)
The visual used in the doodle shows wheelchair-driven birds playing the sport and performing a slam dunk.
Speaking of the sport itself, Team USA clinched a win on the opening day of the Paralympics by beating Spain 66-56. Paralympian Ignacio Ortega Lafuente, who plays for Spain, put up a stellar performance by scoring 17 points despite ending up on the losing side.
History Of Wheelchair Basketball
The sport was used as a rehabilitation activity for the injured of the World War II. According to the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF), the sport was first played back in 1946 in American hospitals.
If one clicks on the 'Google Doodle', they can get the schedule of the sport at the ongoing Paris Paralympics.
Wheelchair basketball at the Paris Paralympics
At the 1960 Games in Rome, wheelchair basketball made it's debut for the first time ever. Team USA were the first to clinch gold in both the basketball events played in the competition.
Speaking of the Paris Games, eight teams of men's and women's teams will lock horns in what is a significant reduction from the 12 teams at the Tokyo Games. Qualification for this event took play via Zonal Championships with top four nations from each zone clinched their place. The repechage tourney was another opportunity for teams who failed to make it to the Zonal Championships.
