Hotels near London Paralympics: Wheelchair Rugby

One of the most aggressive, thrilling and intense of Paralympic Sports, the London 2012 Wheelchair Rugby competition will be played at the Olympic Park's Basketball Arena from Wednesday 5 to Sunday 9 September. Invented in the late '70s by a group of Canadian quadriplegic athletes, Wheelchair Rugby was actually called "Murderball" at first, such is the physicality and high-level of contact between the athletes. Wheelchair Rugby actually has little in common with Rugby per se except for the name. In reality, it is a hybrid of Wheelchair Basketball, Ice Hockey and Handball, played on a regulation-size Basketball court between mixed-gender teams of four using a white circular ball very much like a volleyball. The basic objective of the game is to carry the ball across the opposition's goal line. But there are numerous rules and regulations which doesn't make this as easy as it seems: players much bounce or pass the ball within ten seconds, teams only have 12 seconds to advance the ball from their back court into the front court and a total of 40 seconds to score a point of concede possession. While contact between wheelchairs is permitted, physical contact is forbidden - and players cannot take others out from behind. That said, wheelchairs often clatter into one another, with some players even thrown to the ground. Games consist of four eight-minute quarters; two groups of four teams will contest a round-robin phase before the top two teams of each group will qualify for the semi-finals and then the gold medal match. Wheelchair Rugby made its Paralympic debut at the Sydney 2000 Games, with the US edging Australia 32-31 to take the gold. New Zealand took the gold in Athens before USA returned to the summit in Beijing.