WHEELCHAIR CRICKET
Wheelchair Cricket India Association
The national body for wheelchair cricket in India, founded by Sqn Ldr Abhai Pratap Singh, Retd.
What is wheelchair cricket?
Wheelchair cricket is cricket played by wheelchair users, with adaptations that allow batting, bowling and fielding on court. Wheelchair Cricket India Association, WCIA, is the association that organises the pathway in India: state associations, the national championship, and the National Wheelchair Cricket Team of India.
The first wheelchair cricket tournament in India was held in Allahabad in June 2016, between Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Delhi. WCIA is registered under U74999UP2018NPL100302.
FOUNDER OF WHEELCHAIR CRICKET
Sqn Ldr Abhai Pratap Singh, Retd.
Sqn Ldr Abhai Pratap Singh, Retd., is the founder and president of Wheelchair Cricket India Association. A former Indian Air Force fighter pilot, he built wheelchair cricket in India after an accident, so that a wheelchair user could be selected for a state team and represent India.
He is also Joint Secretary of the Differently Abled Cricket Council of India.
WCIA
The sport — Wheelchair cricket gives wheelchair users a full game: bat, bowl and field.
WCIA
The pathway — A player moves from a state association to the national championship, and can be selected for Team India.
WCIA
The record — 22 state associations. 2,500 wheelchair cricketers. 17 wins from 18 international matches, one tied, none lost.
Where wheelchair cricket sits
In April 2021, under the guidance of Shri Jay Shah, then Secretary of the BCCI, the Differently Abled Cricket Council of India was formed for four forms of the game: wheelchair cricket, blind cricket, deaf cricket, and physically disabled standing cricket. WCIA is the body for wheelchair cricket.
MISSION
A structure, not a one-off match.
WCIA’s work is to keep wheelchair cricket available, selected and recorded. That means a state association in which a player can be named, a national championship with a published result, and a national team chosen on the game.
The aim is a professionally structured, widely accessible and internationally recognised sport. Equal opportunity, equal respect and equal sporting rights are the test of every competition, not a slogan beside it.
A player should be able to move from rehabilitation to a state cap, and from a state cap to an India shirt, without the pathway depending on one event.
OUR STORY
From one tournament to a national championship.
Wheelchair cricket had been played without one national body. Sqn Ldr Abhai Pratap Singh, Retd., founded Wheelchair Cricket India Association to build that body. The first tournament was in Allahabad in June 2016, with Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Delhi.
The domestic game then moved through Meerut in January 2017, Jaipur in February 2017, and a four-state series in Chandigarh in October 2017. The first National Wheelchair Cricket Championship followed from 12 January to 11 February 2018: 14 teams, five venues, and more than 200 players.
In May 2018 the national team played Bangladesh. In September 2018 it won the India–Pakistan series 3–0 in the UAE. The second national championship, in 2019, had 16 states and more than 225 players. The 2022 championship in Udaipur had more than 250 players and is recorded by Guinness World Records as the world’s biggest wheelchair cricket tournament.
WCIA is registered under U74999UP2018NPL100302. It is credited with the formation of the National Wheelchair Cricket Team of India. The association now records 22 state associations and 2,500 wheelchair cricketers.
LEADERSHIP
Sqn Ldr Abhai Pratap Singh, Retd.
Founder and President, Wheelchair Cricket India Association.
A former Indian Air Force fighter pilot, he started the association after an accident, when the public response to a wheelchair user was sympathy. His work has been the other response: selection, a state team, and an India shirt.
He is also Joint Secretary of the Differently Abled Cricket Council of India. On this page, no other office-bearer is listed.