Great Britain’s opponents for the Preliminary Stage of this summer’s Paralympic Games in Tokyo have been confirmed with just over 100 days to go until the GB Men and Women begin their Paralympic campaigns.
The draw, hosted at Stoke Mandeville Stadium, saw the twelve men’s teams and ten women’s teams drawn into two groups for Tokyo 2020’s round-robin Preliminary Stage.
The Men’s competition features two groups of six and Great Britain were drawn in Group B where they will face defending champions USA, 2018 World bronze medallists Australia, 2019 European semi-finalists Germany, African champions Algeria and 2018 World semi-finalists Iran.
There are five teams in each of the two groups in the Women’s competition and the GB Women will play 2019 Parapan American champions Canada, Asia-Oceania runners-up Australia, 2018 World bronze medallists Germany and Paralympic hosts Japan in Group A.
The top four in each group will advance through to the quarter-finals, followed by the semi-finals and final.
Great Britain’s Men’s and Women’s teams qualified for the Paralympic Games following their performances at the 2019 IWBF European Championships, where the GB Men were crowned European champions and the GB Women secured an historic silver medal, their highest ever European finish.
The GB Men have won five Paralympic medals, including silver at the 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta, while the GB Women recorded their best-ever Paralympic finish at Rio 2016, finishing fourth.
The Tokyo 2020 draw was presented by broadcaster and British Olympian Jeannette Kwakye with Charlie Bethel, Chair of IWBF’s Competition Commission, conducting the draw along with five-time Paralympian Sir Philip Craven MBE and the Japanese Ambassador to the United Kingdom, HAYASHI Hajime.
The full draw can be viewed below and on the IWBF website. Fixture dates will be confirmed in due course.
Men
| Group A | Group B |
| Canada | USA |
| Republic of Korea | Australia |
| Spain | Great Britain |
| Turkey | Germany |
| Colombia | Algeria |
| Japan | Iran |
Women
| Group A | Group B |
| Canada | USA |
| Australia | China |
| Great Britain | Netherlands |
| Germany | Spain |
| Japan | Algeria |
