Wheelchair basketball highlights evolving classification system for fair play

As wheelchair basketball players maneuvered across the court in Nagoya, Japan, on Wednesday, battling for rebounds and creating openings for teammates, every lineup needs more than a tactical calculation.

Coaches should also balance the classification points assigned to players according to their functional abilities, ensuring athletes with different levels of impairment have a fair chance to compete.

According to the rules, the five players on court for each team cannot have a combined classification score exceeding 14 points. Individual players are assigned scores ranging from 1 to 4.5 in half-point increments, with lower scores indicating more significant impairments.

The system shows the evolution of classification in para sports, which has moved from assessments based on medical diagnoses toward evaluations of how impairments affect an athlete's ability to perform in a particular sport.