Classification

The Wheelchair Basketball competition at the Paralympic Games is played in wheelchairs and is open to athletes with a permanent physical impairment in the lower limb(s) which can be objectively verified. Impairments may include paraplegia, lower limb amputations, cerebral palsy, and polio. Not all players are daily wheelchair users, so athletes can be ambulant.

Wheelchair Basketball classification is based on the players functional capacity to complete the skills necessary to play pushing, pivoting, shooting, rebounding, dribbling, passing and catching.Players are classified by a points system from 1 to 4.5 with higher classification numbers representing those with the least physical impairment such as a lower limb permanent injury.Each squad can consist of up to 12 players, with only five players on the court at any one time. During a match a team must field five players whose cumulative classification does not exceed 14.0 points.