New wheelchairs are donated to the Battambang women’s wheelchair basketball team by members of a group representing DSR during a ceremony at the CNVLD headquarters yesterday. Photograph: Sreng Meng Srun/Phnom Penh Post

In a magnanimous gesture yesterday, a group of twenty Australians – 10 of whom are disabled – donated a set of 16 state-of-the-art basketball wheelchairs to the Cambodian National Volleyball League (Disabled)’s new women’s wheelchair basketball team based in Battambang.

The group representing Disability, Sports and Recreation (DSR) organisation from the state of Victoria cycled around Cambodia on mountain bikes and hand cycles to raise funds for the CNVLD women’s wheelchair program.

At a simple but poignant function held at the CNVLD office in Phnom Penh, the 16 wheelchairs were formally handed over to the team.

The DSR will also fund an Australian coach to train the teams for a month.

Plans are afoot to set up additional clubs in Kampong Speu and Kampong Chhnang provinces in the next six months, leading to a national competition framework and the selection of a national team to represent Cambodia at international events.

“It is great to see the commencement of a new disability sport that provides opportunity for Cambodian women with a disability. We thank the DSR and its members including persons with disability who cycled through the country to raise funds for us,” CNVLD secretary-general Chris Minko told the Post yesterday.

To contact the reporter on this story: H S Manjunath at [email protected]