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In conjunction with the 2018 Wheelchair Basketball World Championships, the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) held its seventh World Congress on Friday 24th July 2018.
Forty-four member countries from around the world were present at the Congress, which was held in Hamburg, Germany, to hear about the progress made by IWBF since 2014 and to elect the executive council.
Ulf Mehrens of Germany, who was elected as President of IWBF in 2014, was re-elected as the international federation's President for the next four-year term.
Along with Mehrens, the following officers were re-elected into their same positions they had held over the last four years: Steve Bach of Canada continues as Vice President; Craig Moorgas of South Africa as Treasurer; Francisca Ravestein of the Netherlands will remain as Chairperson of the Commission for Legal Matters and Eligibility (CLME), and Charlie Bethel of Great Britain as Chairperson of the Competition Commission.
The other officer to remain was member-at-large Toufic Allouche of Lebanon, and elected as a new member-at-large was Matthew Wells of Australia.
Following 20 years of dedicated service on the Executive Board, Norbert Kucera and Don Perriman did not stand for re-election as the Chairman of Technical Commission and Chairman of Classification Commission, respectively. Following the congress Norbert Kucera, was appointed IWBF’s new Secretary-General by the Executive Council, whilst Don Perriman will still be involved with the sport concentrating on his other role as IWBF Asia Oceania Zone Secretary-General. Retiring secretary-general Maureen Orchard was named as honorary secretary general.
Cristian Roja of Italy was elected as Chairman of the Technical Commission, to replace Kucera, and Regina Costa of Portugal was elected Chairperson of the Classification Commission, to replace Perriman. Both of whom have been active members of those commissions for a number of years.
The Executive Council is completed by the Presidents of the four Zones - Hamid El Aouni (Morocco) IWBF Africa; Cristina Rosello (Uruguay) IWBF Americas; Saad Alazma (Kuwait) IWBF Asia Oceania; Walter Pfaller (Austria) IWBF Europe.
IWBF President, Ulf Mehrens, said “Over the past four years we have made big steps in developing the federation, but we need to continue this momentum going forward to create a professional and sustainable future for our sport. I know this board also believe in all our goals and aims and will work hard to achieve this.
“I would like to thank both Norbert Kucera and Don Perriman for their dedication and commitment to IWBF over the past 20 years. They have shaped their areas of work and I’m pleased that we do not lose them from the sport completely and they continue to be involved in other positions.”
The IWBF also recognized seven new member nations Afghanistan, Cyprus, Estonia, India, Indonesia, Uganda, and Norway.
