Anyone who uses a wheelchair can participate in wheelchair fencing competitions, including amputees, paraplegics and cerebral palsy athletes. Since the 1988 Seoul Paralympic Games, a new classification system for wheelchair fencers has been introduced and used. At the European Wheelchair Fencing Championship held in Glasgow in 1987, Rita Strom, a German, first proposed a new classification system, then partially revised to form a version that eventually appeared at the Seoul Paralympic Games. This new functional scoring system fully considers various influencing factors, so that athletes with different disability types (amputation, poliomyelitis, cerebral palsy, paraplegia) have the opportunity to participate in the competition together.
After completing the analysis, evaluation and functional testing, functional grading should be carried out according to the following criteria:
Grade 1A - Swordsmen are not good at using swordsmen and cannot keep balance while sitting. If there is no elbow tension to effectively overcome gravity, there will be no residual function of the hand, so the sword can not be fixed on the hand with a bandage. The functional level was similar to that of the original ISMGF 1A grade, which was between grade C5 and grade C6 spinal cord injury.
Level 1B - Athletes can't keep their balance, swordsmen have obstacles. It has elbow stretching function, but the fingers are not flexible. It is necessary to fix the sword on the hand with a bandage. This level corresponds to higher levels of C7/C8 in complete paralysis or incomplete injury.
Level 2 - Athletes have moderate sitting posture and balance ability, and fencing is normal. D1-D9 is equivalent to paraplegia (total score of functional test 1 and functional test 2 is no more than 4 points) or incomplete paralysis (fencer has the smallest barrier and good sitting posture).
Level 3 - Athletes have good sitting balance, no leg support, swordsmen are normal. For example: paraplegic D10 to L2 (ideal functional test 1 and functional test 2: scores between 5 and 9). Athletes with amputations above the knee (a small number of stumps), incomplete injuries above D10 or other similar disabilities can also be included in this level, but evidence must be provided that legs can help athletes maintain sitting balance.
Level 4 - Athletes have good sitting balance ability, lower limb support ability and normal fencing. For example, injuries below L4 or similar disabilities (test 3 and 4 scored the lowest, 5).
Minimum injury - Lower limb disability is equivalent to lower knee amputation.
If the athletes are disabled due to brain injury or have other doubts, fencing activities should be observed in order to complete the evaluation. For athletes, personal participation in the scoring process is the most important. In fact, within the scope of its duties, the grading Committee has taken measures such as letting athletes sign to confirm the grading results.
Scoring: According to the degree of athletes'loss of athletic ability, athletes are divided into A and B grades.
Level A: Level 3 and above
Grade B: Grade 2, Grade 1A and above
From the network