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Legacy work from the Sitting volleyball

Custom House teachers face Team USA in sitting volleyball match

read more from local press

Team USA, Aldrich, wins Silver

More about the USA Team in the Local Press

Holloway wins silver medal at Paralympic Games

 
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    USA Volleyball

    Sitting volleyball player Katie Holloway (5) of the United States was named the best spiker at the recent Paralympic Games in London.

 

Rwanda: Paralympics Team Reflects On London Disappointment

Read more from allafrica.com, although is placing Rwanda second in Africa really a disappointment?!

More press on conflict nations September 2, 2012 5:24 pm

Conflict nations shine at Paralympic volleyball

Rwandan Paralympic duo become latest athletes to go missing in UK following London 2012

By Tom Degun

images-2012-09-James_Rutikanga_17-09-12-September 17 - Rwandan sitting volleyball players James Rutikanga (pictured left) and Eric Ngirinshuti have become the latest athletes to go missing in the United Kingdom after competing at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

The duo were part of the Rwandan men's sitting volleyball squad that failed to win any of their four matches at ExCeL and were eliminated in the group stages if the competition.

However, the pair went missing, along with all their belongings from the Athletes' Village in Stratford, during the Paralympic Games Closing Ceremony on September 9 according the Rwandan Chef de Mission for the London 2012 Paralympics Celestin Nzeyimana.

"They went missing without their service passports," explained Nzeyimana.

"Efforts to find them have so far yielded nothing.

"We are, however, confident that they will be caught and maybe deported back since they don't have any documents to prove their presence in London."

On the same night, a judoka and four officials from the Democratic Republic Congo vanished in London.

At present, none of the athletes are breaking any British laws because they all have a special London 2012 visa to stay in the UK until November.

The Paralympics defects join several Olympians who also went missing from the London 2012 Athletes' Village.

The Olympic athletes that disappeared include over a dozen African athletes from Cameroon, Eritrea, Guinea and the Ivory Coast.

The Home Office has refused to comment on the reports, saying it does not speak about individual cases, however, athletes seeking asylum at sporting events is not a new occurrence.

Visa overstays and asylum applications also followed the Sydney 2000 Olympics, while Olympic defections were common during the Cold War.

One of the best-known incidents was at the Melbourne 1956 Olympics when half the Hungarian delegation defected to the West after the Games.

Experts say it is too early to tell what will happen to the African athletes who have gone missing as they may overstay their visas, apply to become a refugee or return to their countries before their visas expire.

But despite this fact, the missing athletes issue at London 2012 is believed to be the biggest defection in the history of the Games.
 

Experience of a lifetime at Paralympics

More news about the Great Britain Team. Read more 

Paralympics 2012: Paralympic debutant Amy Brierly targeting Rio 2016 already for Team GB sitting volleyball squad

Another GB player in the local press.

Paralympics: Deeside’s Amy Brierly in sitting volleyball after chance meeting changed her life

Local press coverage of Amy

 

PARALYMPICS LONDON 2012: Wiggs already turning her attentions to Rio

SITTING volleyball player Emma Wiggs saw her hopes of ending the London 2012 Paralympics on a high dashed by Japan - but she's already turned her attentions to Rio 2016, claiming Great Britain have barely tested the water yet.
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Latching onto a legacy

Wounded Warrior Adaptive Sports Camp 

The RWC welcomes United States Marines from the Wounded Warrior Regiment

read more and see its week long programme

Be uprising for sitting volleyball

Australian news gets on the act of spreading the word of sitting volleyball with celebrities playing sitting volleyball during the Paralympics

More Videos to watch from youtube

Sitting Volleyball - USA vs BRA - Women's Preliminaries Pool B - London 2012 Paralympic Games

Sitting Volleyball - IRI vs BRA - Men's Preliminaries Pool B - London 2012 Paralympic Games

Sitting Volleyball - GER vs RUS - Men's Bronze Medal Match - Match 52 - London 2012 Paralympic 

Sitting Volleyball - USA vs CHN - Women's Gold Medal Match - London 2012 Paralympic Games

Sitting Volleyball - BIH vs IRI - Men's Gold Medal Match - London 2012 Paralympic Games

Closing Ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games






Pictures of the Quarter Finals - CHN v GER

Germany beats China in men's sitting volleyball quarterfinal

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Christoph Herzog (Top) of Germany digs the ball during the men's sitting volleyball quarterfinal against China at the London 2012 Paralympic Games in London, Britain, on Sept. 5, 2012. Germany beat China 3-2. (Xinhua/Chen Yehua)
 
 

Italian media about sitting volleyball and disability sports

read original text here

What follows is the Googletranslate version.

Sitting volleyball: rage to live and conquerita

Pallavolo-da-seduti-la-rabbia-di-vivere-

In training - http://blog.amsvans.com

Has shown its supremacy after Athens 2004 in London. The Bosnian men's volleyball team has won the just ended the Paralympics. An interview with Dzevad Hamzic, one of his most representative players

(Originally published September 12, 2012 byLe Courrier des Balkans )

The Bosnian volleyball players have won a gold medal again, showing the beginning of the tournament a magnificent game that left hope at best. Their level has improved from game to game, making players grow in confidence in their abilities.

Getting the gold, the selection Bosnian renewed success in Athens in 2004, demonstrating its ability to beat even the strongest teams on paper, as was the case for Iran, which had dominated early on in groups.

The Bosnian team, despite having lost the first set of the final, was able to remount and to demonstrate a strong mind, a fighting spirit and perseverance that led to victory.

 

The final 

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Watch on YouTube the highlights of the final of the Beijing 2008 where the result smiled in that case Iran

 

A highly symbolic victory for a generation of exceptional athletes, some now at the end of his career, as explained two years ago inLe Courrier des Balkans Dzevad Hamzic, now double Olympic champion in 44 years.

How do you explain your success?

In many try to understand the secret of our victories. Personally, I believe that we have a clear advantage on a psychological level than the other national teams, which are composed of people disabled from birth or accidents. For us it is not. Most of us were successful sports before being wounded during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

When this sad war broke out we fought and were wounded. We were aware that when you fight your life can change dramatically in a matter of a minute. Within us there is still that anger, that we call " inactive ", which gives us great moral strength and a desire to succeed. This anger, we we transposed in volleyball. All members of our team have this immense force will. There is nothing that can replace it, no technique, no strategy.

 

 The other national teams are composed of people disabled from birth or accidents. 

For us it is not. Most of us were successful sports before being injured during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

 

 Most of the players are therefore representative Bosnian war veterans, wounded in the 1992-95 war?

Yes, although in recent years we have tried to diversify. However, there are also players who were not soldiers, civilians injured during the war as children or people who have jumped on a mine. However, there is a direct relationship with the conflict.

Sporting success allow you to experience of racing?

There are many sponsors interested in the sport. No one actually invests in volleyball.Sarajevo Canton pays a portion of our expenses. Apart from that we manage on your own, we directly manage all matters related to the team, from washing the shirts contracts with sponsors. We are dealing with in an autonomous way.

We're very close, we see every day, we take a coffee together and discuss the decisions to be taken. Each team is a kind of family. We support the life of every day, and this affinity also affects our results. Together solve all our problems. Even after winning many trophies, we are jealous of this self-management. We started from nothing and now we are one of the most competitive teams in the region.

Practicing volleyball for you can be considered therapy?

But of course! I was injured three months after the end of the war and immediately I started to play volleyball. There are more than fifteen years game then and I can say that I have never had to go to the doctor to treat specific problems related to my disability. This shows that sport for disabled people, whatever your sport, is the best possible rehabilitation and re-socialization tool.

Many of the wounded during the war were locked up in themselves, they are withdrawn and this is very harmful to their mental health. Life changes all of a sudden, in the past mundane daily activities become very complicated and their sense of isolation and depression are a risk.

This isolation leads to total inactivity, you get fat, you stay at home, eat, sleep, watch TV, you start drinking to forget and do not tolerate anything or anyone. The whole world becomes responsible for your disability, life becomes a living hell.

But if you dedicate yourself to a sport, if you open up to other people who live in a situation similar to yours, but who want to get out, follow the best possible therapy. Thinking to myself, to my way, I aprtecipato in 4 editions of the Paralympics, I found myself in front of an audience of 100,000 people ... it seems incredible today.

Do you think that your achievements will contribute to a better awareness on the part of Bosnian society towards people with disabilities?

With regard to the sporting context we were able to bring the sport to the same level of able-bodied sport. People know volleyball sitting, which in the past did not know. In addition, there is now also a course dedicated to the sport for the disabled at the Faculty of Sport in Sarajevo, and this means there is a real understanding of our business. The boys are made of high schools lessons explaining what the sport for the disabled. And all this is thanks in large part to our success.

What is the relationship with the players of the Republika Srpska?

Initially, we set up a volleyball team sitting of the Federation. When they started too to practice this sport have proposed to join forces. But it was not their intention. They wanted to try to make their own league and participate with their own national selection, which is of course impossible at an international level. There is now a league of Republika Srpska, but at the international level, the best players play under the flag of Serbia.

As for us, we do not look if a player is Bosniak, Croat or Serb. Counts first love for the sport and the desire to go farther and farther. If they are unwilling to join forces us please do not for sure.Nevertheless, there is no animosity between us. We practice a sport and try to lead a normal life. Of course we will never forget what happened during the war, but let's not mix them all together and move forward.

read original text here

HoD/EUSR Congratulated the BiH Sitting Volleyball Team

Peter Sorensen

Head of the EU Delegation/European Union Special Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ambassador Peter Sorensen, has congratulated the BiH Sitting Volleyball Team on their gold medal win at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.

"This is a huge achievement for the team members themselves, the Paralympics Committee and the national Representation, and for Bosnia and Herzegovina as a country. I am well aware of the hours of training and preparation that will have been invested by the team members and all their support staff, and am very glad that this has paid off so handsomely", Ambassador stated in a letter sent to the President of the BiH Paralympics Committee, Mr Mustafa Demir.

"Every four years, the Paralympic and Olympic Games remind us of the common values that unite us, above and beyond nationality", Ambassador Sorensen stressed.

Read full text from EU Delegations from Bosnia


IPC Athletes Council new member - Elvira Stinissen

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