Snooker at the Summer Paralympics

Snooker at the Summer Paralympics
Governing body	IWAS
Events	2 (men)
Games
1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020
Medalists

In September 1943, the British government asked neurologist Ludwig Guttmann to establish the National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire. When the centre opened in 1944, Guttmann was appointed its director and held the position until 1966. Sport was introduced as part of the total rehabilitation programme for patients at the centre, starting with darts, snooker, punchball, and skittles, followed by archery.

Guttmann organised the first Stoke Mandeville Games for paraplegic persons in the form of an archery demonstration with two teams, which took place on 29 July 1948, the same day as the start of the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. Netball was then added as an event in 1949, and javelin throw in 1950. Snooker was first introduced into the Stoke Mandeville Games in 1951 and was included in every annual event up to 1959.

Guttmann originally used the term Paraplegic Games, a name that eventually developed into the "Paralympic Games" (or "Paralympics"), which were first held in Rome alongside the Summer Olympics in 1960.

Snooker was included at the inaugural Summer Paralympics of 1960, held in Rome. The event took place outdoors in a covered area of a running track, on a table that was sent over from Stoke Mandeville Hospital. With the exception of 1980, snooker was then contested at each subsequent Summer Paralympics until 1988, a total of seven Paralympic Games.

Snooker was only open to male competitors at the Paralympics. Over its Paralympic history, the event was dominated by Great Britain, who won eight gold medals in the sport, three of which were awarded to Nottinghamshire player Michael Shelton.

Medal winners

Men

1960

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's paraplegic open	Cliff Keaton  Great Britain	Michael Shelton  Great Britain	Giovanni Ferraris  Italy
			George Portelli  Malta

1964

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's paraplegic open	Michael Shelton  Great Britain	Frank Vecera  United States	Claude Markham  Malta
			George Portelli  Malta

1968

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's paraplegic open	Michael Shelton  Great Britain	Jimmy Gibson  Ireland	John Newton  Australia
			Aroldo Ruschioni  Italy

1972

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's paraplegic	Michael Shelton  Great Britain	Jimmy Gibson  Ireland	Aroldo Ruschioni  Italy
Men's tetraplegic	Peter Haslam  Great Britain	Cliff Rickard  Australia	Chris McGann  Great Britain

1976

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's 2-5	D. Mellway  Canada	Brian Faulkner  Great Britain	Michael Shelton  Great Britain
Men's A-C	Tommy Taylor  Great Britain	Rod Vleiger  United States	P. Haslam  Great Britain

1984

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's paraplegic	Jimmy Gibson  Ireland	J. Buchanan  Great Britain	Mike Langley  Great Britain
Men's tetraplegic	P. Haslam  Great Britain	K. Ellison  Great Britain	Tommy Taylor  Great Britain

1988

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's open	Mike Langley  Great Britain	Michael White  Ireland	Maurice Job  Great Britain

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Great Britain (GBR)	8	4	6	18
2	Ireland (IRL)	1	3	0	4
3	Canada (CAN)	1	0	0	1
4	United States (USA)	0	2	0	2
5	Australia (AUS)	0	1	1	2
6	Italy (ITA)	0	0	3	3
	Malta (MLT)	0	0	3	3
Totals (7 entries)		10	10	13	33

External links

• Snooker. National Paralympic Heritage Trust.
• Snooker chasing Paralympic dream. BBC video (6 December 2015) with Nigel Mawner, chairman of World Disability Billiards and Snooker.