Japanese Wheelchair Manufacturer Matsunaga Announced as Official Supplier of British Wheelchair Basketball

British Wheelchair Basketball has announced a new four-year £400k partnership with wheelchair manufacturer Matsunaga, a deal which sees the Japanese company become the National Governing Body’s Official Basketball Wheelchair Sponsor of its GB Performance Programme.

The technology driven Matsunaga sees the partnership with British Wheelchair Basketball as a strategic move in realising its ambition to be a world market leader in the sports wheelchair sector.

Lisa Pearce, CEO of British Wheelchair Basketball, commented: “We’re delighted to partner with Matsunaga, whose organisational values align to our own. Matsunaga demonstrated an eagerness to not only be a supplier but a strategic partner, working alongside our athletes to innovate and improve their products to help us cement our position as one of the world leading wheelchair basketball nations.”

The partnership was sealed in an ‘official’ signing ceremony held at the Hamburg World Wheelchair Basketball Championships on Thursday 16 August 2018. Flying in to Hamburg to support the GB teams and to announce the partnership was Matsunaga’s President, Noriyuki Matsunaga and Sales Manager, Shinji Hayashi and Brand Manager, Yasuhiro Jimbo who were joined by British Wheelchair Basketball’s CEO Lisa Pearce and GB Head Coaches Haj Bhania and Miles Thompson.

Looking forward to a long-term successful partnership, President Noriyuki Matsunaga commented:

“British Wheelchair Basketball’s four GB teams are some of the best in the World, with the junior teams both current World Champions and the senior squads two of the most successful in the UK sports history. It is an exciting time to join forces with British Wheelchair Basketball as the teams start to plan their Tokyo Paralympic journey.”

Matsunaga was established in 1974 and is currently the number one company in the Japanese manual wheelchair market: www.matsunaga-w.co.jp/global.