Four years ago, the teams from Hyeres, Madrid, Porto Torres, Rom, Sassari, Toulouse and Zwickau played a thrilling tournament in Wetzlar, and the memories of the 2007 Eurobasketball are still very vivid. Now, RSV Lahn-Dill´s officials are looking forward to welcome the European élite to Wetzlar once again. „We´re convinced that we´ll do a splendid job as hosts again. Wetzlar will be an excellent stage for the teams and the IWBF to present wheelchair basketball to the public“, says Lahn-Dill´s executive manager Andreas Joneck.
Joneck describes the efforts to win the bid also as a responsibility of his club towards the city of Wetzlar and the region of Mittelhessen. „Bringing high-profile sports events to the region is how we can pay back to the people in this region who give their support to us“. The final decision about the bid will not be made by the IWBF Europe until September.
Until then, the Beijing Paralympic Games will be in the focus of everybody involved in wheelchair basketball. RSV Lahn-Dill will send five athletes to the games, including Joey Johnson (Canada), Michael Paye (USA), Dirk Koehler-Lenz, Gesche Schuenemann und Annika Zeyen. Manager Andreas Joneck got nominated by the German National Paralympic Committee (DBS-NPC) as media liason officer.