Gaz Choudhry: Wheelchair basketball needs better profile in the UK

A British wheelchair basketball star wants a professional league to be launched in Britain to enable disabled players to ply their trade at home.

Gaz Choudhry, who represented Great Britain in the 2012 Paralympics in London and now plays for Italian champions Briantea 84, said British players are forced to move abroad due to a lack of opportunities.

The double European champion told Sky Sports the UK can learn from other countries in making the club version of wheelchair basketball more popular.

“I would love for it to change, I want nothing more than to play at home and be with my family,” said Choudhry, who currently lives in Milan.

“My partner lives in Liverpool and my family in London, so it’s a difficult task balancing that.

“The funding aspect has to come first to draw athletes in.

“Team GB is funded by UK Sport National Lottery, which is second to none. But in most other countries, clubs are well funded.”

It is difficult to develop world class athletes with what it takes. You need 6”3 huge guys who sit big in their chairs and you need basketball acumen.

Exposure

Choudhry started playing the sport aged 12 after having his right leg amputated due to bone cancer.

He believes the 2012 Paralympics transformed people’s attitudes towards disabilities but feels there is a long way to go in the respect given to sports like wheelchair basketball.

“When it comes to sport, we’re far behind. I was in Germany for two seasons prior to coming to Italy.

“The public go to support their local team, the players are not seen as wheelchair athletes. You get a comment here like 'it’s amazing what you can do in that chair', you wouldn’t hear that abroad. They would say you’re a great athlete or player.

“Maybe it’s down to lack of exposure, they are more nuanced on the sport abroad.”

Choudhry is at a Team GB training camp this week as part of the defence of next year’s European Championships in Worcester. The tournament is also a qualifier for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

He said: “We are the double European champions, it’s never been done for a team to win three in a row so we’re going for that.

“At the World Championships [last year] we regressed, we finished seventh after losing in the quarter-finals to Turkey by one point. That’s the nature of tournaments. But we are light years ahead of where we were pre-London.”

Future

Sport has been a huge part of my rehab and motivation. It is integral, especially for disabled kids. If you lose your mobility you feel your childhood has been robbed. But I have travelled the world and I am doing something I love.

The Pakistan-born sportsman admits it is difficult to develop wheelchair basketball athletes but is encouraged by more youngsters playing the sport.

“It is difficult to develop world class athletes with what it takes. You need 6”3 huge guys who sit big in their chairs and you need basketball acumen.

“I went to the National Junior Championships and was blown away by the amount of kids playing, there’s a huge influx of new players. The big problem is my generation were forced to go abroad so kids don’t get that first hand exposure to athletes like we did.”

In England, clubs play in amateur leagues and only one side has won the European Champions Cup in the tournament’s history. But the 29-year-old is hoping the next generation can boost the sport’s popularity.

He added: “We are not a basketball nation so we don’t have the structure.

“Clubs have been professional in Europe for 15 years. They have a long history, whereas one British team has won the Champions Cup since 1993. In club basketball it is not even close.”

Choudhry is grateful for having a career in the sport and the role it has played in his life since having his leg amputated as a 10-year-old.

“Sport has been a huge part of my rehab and motivation. It is integral, especially for disabled kids.

“If you lose your mobility you feel your childhood has been robbed.

“But I have travelled the world and I am doing something I love.”