At the World Curling Association's meeting in Cortina at the end of last season, a detailed document was presented covering classification rules for wheelchair curling. One of the deficiences it addressed was the absence of any procedure to appeal a decision by an authorised classifier to grant or refuse eligibility.
The document was referred back for further study and became official WCF policy in June.
A major change was to redefine wheelchair curling from a sport just for participants requiring a wheelchair for their daily mobility, to one that includes people with significant demonstrable impairments in leg/gait function - whether or not they use a wheelchair in their day to day lives.
This is a big step towards making the sport available to anyone unable to curl without a wheelchair.
Curlers currently classified as eligible under the old rules will not have to reclassify and there can be no appeal of a classification 24 hours after an athlete has appeared in a WCF sanctioned event. There are detailed procedures for appeals by athletes declared ineligible to play.
You can read the Classification Rules For Wheelchair Curling here.
Should wheelchair curling remain a sport reserved for full-time wheelchair users? Or should it be a sport for those unable to curl without a wheelchair? Add your opinion to the comments.
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3 comments:
I say ..... Stick curling?
As long as the classifiers are consistent, we can use the expanded population base to work with.
Never did make sense that an athlete with prostheses was ineligible.
I guess this finally puts Jim Armstrong's eligibility to rest?
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