 Sabljak at the 2017 IWBF Asia-Oceania Championships in Beijing in October 2017 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ella Louise Sabljak | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 17 October 1991 Moonee Ponds, Victoria, Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country | Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Wheelchair basketball | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Guard | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disability class | 1.0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event | Women's team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Queensland Comets (basketball) Bond University Rugby | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Ella Louise Sabljak (born 17 October 1991)[1] is an Australian 1.0 point wheelchair basketball and 2.5 wheelchair rugby player. She represented Australia at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics in basketball and at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, she won a bronze medal in wheelchair rugby with the Steelers.[2][3]
Biography
Sabljak has hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy (type 2) which means the loss of muscle tone below the knee as well as in her forearm.[4] She studied education at Griffith University in Queensland, and is a qualified primary school teacher.[5] The university awarded her a full blue for wheelchair basketball in 2015.[6][7] She lives on the Gold Coast with her partner Matt McShane, a wheelchair basketballer.[4]
Wheelchair basketball
A 1.0 point Guard, she began playing wheelchair basketball for the Brisbane-based Queensland Comets in the Women's National Wheelchair Basketball League in 2011.[8] The Comets won the league championship in 2014, a year in which she was named the league Most Valuable Player 1-pointer. In 2015, she averaged three points and four rebounds per game.[1] She also played with the mixed National Wheelchair Basketball League competition.[9]
In 2011, she was part of the Australian junior team (the Devils) at the 2011 Women's U25 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, winning silver.[10] Four years later she was captain of the Devils at the 2015 Women's U25 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Beijing, again winning silver.[1]
She made her senior international debut with the Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team (the Gliders) that year at the Osaka Cup in Japan in February 2013.[11] She subsequently played for the Gliders at the Osaka Cup in February 2015,[12] the 2015 IWBF Asia-Oceania Championships in Chiba, Japan, in October 2015, the Osaka Cup in February 2016,[13][14] and the 2017 IWBF Asia-Oceania Championships in Beijing in October 2017.[15]
She represented Australia at the 2018 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship where the team came ninth.
At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, the Gliders finished ninth after winning the 9th–10th classification match.[16]
She was a member of the Australian team that won the silver medal in the 3x3 Women's tournament at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Wheelchair rugby
Sabljak classified as a 2.5 player won her first world championship gold medal at the 2022 IWRF World Championship in Vejle, Denmark, when Australia defeated the United States.[17]
At the 2024 Summer Paralympics, she was a member of the Steelers that won the bronze medal defeating Great Britain 50–48.[18]
References
- 1 2 3 "Ella Salbjak". Basketball Australia. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
- ↑ "Gliders' Redemption In Full Swing After Tokyo 2020 Announcement". Paralympics Australia. 16 July 2021. Archived from the original on 16 July 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
- ↑ "Steelers chasing redemption at Paris Games". Yahoo Sports. 10 July 2024. Archived from the original on 11 July 2024. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
- 1 2 "How we met". Queensland U On Sunday (Brisbane, Australia). 22 July 2018. p. 4.
- ↑ "Ella Sabljak". Griffith University. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
- ↑ Marshall, Deborah (29 October 2015). "Awards celebrate student athletes' success". Griffith News. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
- ↑ "How Ella Sabljak shifted from a Glider to a Steeler". Brisbane 2032. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
- ↑ "Player statistics for Ella Sabljak (1.0)". SportsTG. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
- ↑ "Spinning Bullets ready to fire in 2016 NWBL". Sporting Wheelies and Disabled Association. Sporting Wheelies. 4 April 2016. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
- ↑ "Australia". Wheelchair Basketball Canada. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
- ↑ Degun, Tom (11 February 2013). "Australian women's wheelchair basketball team set for Osaka Cup defence". Inside the Games. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
- ↑ "Osaka Cup 2015 – Box Score" (PDF). Osaka Cup. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
- ↑ "Australian Gliders named for 2016 Osaka Cup". Australian Paralympic Committee. February 2016. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
- ↑ "Gliders squad named ahead of 2016 Osaka Cup". SBS. 2 February 2016. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
- ↑ "2017 Asia-Oceania Championships – Australia – Women". International Wheelchair Basketball Federation. Archived from the original on 19 October 2023. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
- ↑ "Gliders end Tokyo campaign on a high". New South Wales Institute of Sport. 31 August 2021. Archived from the original on 18 September 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
- ↑ "Australian Steelers Are World Wheelchair Rugby Champions". Paralympics Australia. 17 October 2022. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
- ↑ "Forged In Bronze: Steelers Reach Paralympic Podium After Eight-Year Wait | Paralympics Australia". paralympic.org.au. 2 September 2024. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
