“We will start a 3-year project to promote Paralympic sports”

It took place on Saturday, November 8, in the Transilvania Hall in Sibiu the opening ceremony of the National Wheelchair Basketball Championship. Eduard Novak had a short speech in which he thanked the media for being present at an important event and stated that he has serious plans with the Paralympic movement in Romania.

Eduard Novak: “2032 could be a chance to qualify for the national team at the Paralympic Games”

After the ceremony, the president of the National Paralympic Committee spoke to GSP about the event in Sibiu, stating in a statement that “basketball can become a symbol of the strength and dignity of the Paralympic movement in Romania.”

“First of all, we're glad we were able to put this event together. Let it be official that we've effectively taken over this entire 7-team organization. I also organized a national batch. I think this event is an impactful one for them. They have been playing with each other for so many years and for the first time I feel that they belong to something, that they belong somewhere“, explained Novak.

“I think that in the future we will be able to build on this structure and we want, of course, to establish more and more teams in the country, to succeed from next year in having an international calendar with the national team, to start moving up the divisions, at the European Championship. Why not, realistically speaking, 2032 could be a chance to qualify for the national team at the Paralympic Games,” added the multiple medalist at the Games Paralympics.

Asked to elaborate on what he meant when he said he had serious plans for the Paralympic movement in Romania, Novak admitted that, at the moment, the sport is little developed in our country and that there are many disciplines in which progress can be made.

“What we see today and the level reached by the Paralympic movement in Romania, let's say, developed naturally. But we have a lot of problems to face – the accessibility of sports bases. We will even start a 3-year project to promote Paralympic sports in Romania. We will make a caravan that will travel for 3 years in Romania, in different cities. We want to connect disabled people with existing clubs there so that when we withdraw they can continue their Paralympic work”, said the former Minister of Youth and Sports.

Eduard Novak: “Romanian Paralympic sport is still unexploited”

“Indeed, I think that this work must last around 4-8 years, in order to lay the foundations of Romanian Paralympic sports. You should know that there are 29 Paralympic sports at the international level, of which 6-7 are currently operating. We also need to open winter sports, we already have a small national team there, but also other team sports, such as rugby, football for the blind. In addition, there are many individual sports that still have no activity, such as wheelchair fencing. So we still have a lot of potential. Romanian Paralympic sport is still unexploitedNovak continued.

Ever since he arrived in Sala Transilvania in Sibiu, Novak was approached by members of different teams who greeted him and exchanged a few words. When asked how the interactions went and what the players' wishes were, he replied:

“They are now very happy because it's the first time this happens, to have an action beautifully organized. I think this shows respect, first of all, to them, to their work that they invest in this sport. It's a start. But we are aware that we still have a lot, a lot of work to do. And at the level of opening new teams, and at the level of coaches, there are challenges. We believe in this project, and certainly if you believe and do something with an open heart, things will happen.”

Apart from the matches of the team from Sibiu, which enjoyed a noisy gallery, the other games were played with an empty hall. Novak believes that, in time, sports lovers in Romania will be more and more interested in the Paralympic disciplines.

“It will be a natural growth as this championship and the Paralympic sport develop. More and more family members, fans will come and this aspect will also develop,” concluded the president of the National Paralympic Committee.

The 7 teams from the National Wheelchair Basketball Championship

• ACS Paralympic Salvia 2000 Cluj-Napoca

• CSM Corona Brașov

• ACS Sibiu Community

• ACS Temerarii Arad

• ACS Astral Wheels Satu Mare

• ACS Phoenix Galati

• Ilfov County Association Motivation of Sports for Disabled Persons