Victory for Loughborough in first women's para-professional basketball league game

Loughborough travelled to Worcester Wolves in a league that's the first of its kind worldwide. Credit: @BritWheelBBall / Twitter

Loughborough Lightning have taken the first victory in the new women's para-professional basketball league.

They travelled to Worcester Wolves in a league that's the first of its kind worldwide, and the UK's first for women's professional para-sport.

Among the winning squad were Tokyo Paralympians Laurie Williams, Jude Hamer, Robyn Love, Lucy Robinson and Siobhan Fitzpatrick.

Sally Munday, CEO of UK Sport, said: "This is a significant moment not just for Wheelchair Basketball but for British Paralympic sport as a whole.

"We are on a mission to create the greatest decade of extraordinary moments; reaching, inspiring and uniting the nation and achieving that will only be possible by making Olympic and Paralympic sport more accessible to the British public more often."

Both teams will now go on to play Cardiff Met Archers and East London Phoenix in an eight-game round-robin format.

Presenter and former wheelchair basketball player, Ade Adepitan, said: "It's not just about the fact that they've set up a professional women's league - it's also the deal to get it on TV on a regular basis.

"That means it gives the sport visibility, so the next generation of young women, disabled women will be able to see incredible athletes and have heroes."

The next fixtures:

  • February 26: Cardiff Met Archers v Loughborough Lightning

  • March 5: East London Phoenix v Loughborough Lightning

  • April 2: Loughborough Lightning v Cardiff Met Archers

  • April 3: Worcester Wolves v East London Phoenix

  • April 30: East London Phoenix v Cardiff Met Archers & Loughborough Lightning v Worcester Wolves

  • May 14: Play offs/finals