Association between the occurrence of falls and winning and losing in the final tournament of wheelchair basketball at Paralympic games

Falls occur frequently in wheelchair basketball games [1]. A fall during a game not only increases the risk of injury but can also delay the player's participation in the next play, which will affect the outcome of the game. This study aimed to explore the relationship between falls and winning or losing in wheelchair basketball games, and to clarify the importance of fall prevention. Is there a relationship between the number or the situation of falls occurring in wheelchair basketball competitions and the winning/losing of games? This study was a cross-sectional video analysis study. We watched official match videos of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic wheelchair basketball final tournament and analyzed the occurrence of falls in a total of 20 games [2]. The analysis items included the number of falls, the classification of the faller, playing time when falling, playing phase, contact with another player, foul judgement, location of the fall, shooting motion, ball retention, and time passing after a fall. Then, we classified the falls into two groups: falls that occurred in the winning team and the losing team. The number of falls was compared between the winning and losing teams, and the analysis items were compared between the groups using chi-square tests and cross-tabulation tables. The significance level was set at 0.05. Table 1 showed the results of the comparison of fall situation characteristics in winning teams and losing teams. A total of 326 falls were observed, of which 138 occurred on the winning teams and 188 on the losing teams. There was a significant difference between winning and losing teams in the classification of fallers (p=0.005). Also, a significant difference was found in the playing time of the game when falls occurred (p=0.024). There were no significant differences between the winning and losing teams in the other items related to fall situation. This study is the first report to clarify the relationship between the occurrence of falls in wheelchair basketball and the winning and losing of a game. Falls of 4-4.5 players, with relatively good trunk control [3], occurred twice as often in the losing team as in the winning team. Then, the number of falls of the losing team increased in the latter half of the game. The occurrence of many falls in the losing team may be related to their lack of chair work skills in the 4-4.5 classification to avoid falls, and physical factors such as fatigue. While falls need to be prevented in all players and situations, this study indicated the need to address fall prevention to win games, especially in the 4-4.5 classification and in the latter half of the game.