USYD Wheelchair Basketball Stars Go for Gold

Sydney Uni Basketball would like to wish Hannah Dodd and Georgia Munro-Cook the best of luck as they go for gold at the Tokyo Summer Paralympics Games as a part of the Australian Gliders wheelchair basketball team.

After failing to qualify for the 2016 Rio Games, the Gliders’ are set to pick up where they left off, after bringing home medals at four consecutive Paralympics from 2000-2012. Drawn in Group A the Gliders will take on tough outfits from Canada, Great Britain, Germany and Japan in their push for Gold.

Attending the Paralympics for the second time, Hannah Dodd is set for her first games as a member of the Australian Gliders having previously represented Australia as an elite equestrian rider in London (2012) where she finished just outside the top 10 in each of her two events. Hannah is a current member of the Sydney Uni Flames Wheelchair Basketball team, where she averaged 11.2 points and 3.9 assists in 2019 to help the Flames secure the Women’s National Wheelchair Basketball League (WNWBL) championship.

An inspiring path to the Gliders, Hannah was born with sacral agenesis and spina bifida with upper limb dystonia and learnt to ride a horse before she could walk. She started competing in 2005 and was representing Australia by the following year. Her distinguished equestrian career ended when she decided to take up basketball, in which she made similarly rapid progress.

For University of Sydney student Georgia Munro-Cook, the Tokyo Games will be her first chance to showcase her skills at the Paralympics, having previously represented the Gliders at the 2016 Osaka Cup and 2018 World Championships among other events. A dominant forward/centre, Munro-Cook is also a Bachelor of International and Global Studies (Honours) graduate and is currently completing a Doctor of Philosophy (Arts & Soc Sci) at the University of Sydney.

When Georgia’s able-bodied basketball career was cut short by injury, Georgia found a substitute in wheelchair basketball in the WNWBL. As an Elite Athlete Program (EAP) alumni, Munro-Cook will join an extensive list of current/former EAP scholarship holders to compete at the Tokyo Games this year.

“It’s official now, it’s actually going to happen and that’s really exciting,” Munro-Cook said.

“We’re a close-knit group. Everyone’s willing to work for each other, be receptive to advice and help make sure everyone in the group becomes a better player. I think those things have really worked for us.”

“We haven’t played an international game since late 2019 and while we’ve had a few camps over the past year, it’s been up and down with Covid and having to quarantine, it’s been tricky but we’ve all been working really hard individually and it’s paying off right now.”

The action kicks off on the 25th of August, 2021 when the Gliders take on Japan in their first pool game. You can see the full schedule HERE.