Ella Sabljak

Ella Sabljak

Sabljak at the 2017 IWBF Asia-Oceania Championships in Beijing in October 2017
Personal information
Full name	Ella Louise Sabljak
Born	(1991-10-17) 17 October 1991 (age 33) 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 Wheelchair rugby Paralympic Games 2024 Paris Mixed team World Championships 2022 Vejle Mixed team Women's wheelchair basketball U25 Women's World Championships 2011 St Catharines Team 2015 Beijing Team Commonwealth Games 2022 Birmingham 3x3 team

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

In action at the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris in August 2024

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. "Ella Salbjak". Basketball Australia. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
2. "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.
3. "Steelers chasing redemption at Paris Games". Yahoo Sports. 10 July 2024. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
4. "How we met". Queensland U On Sunday (Brisbane, Australia). 22 July 2018. p. 4.
5. "Ella Sabljak". Griffith University . Retrieved 9 November 2017.
6. Marshall, Deborah (29 October 2015). "Awards celebrate student athletes' success". Griffith News. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
7. "How Ella Sabljak shifted from a Glider to a Steeler". Brisbane 2032. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
8. "Player statistics for Ella Sabljak (1.0)". SportsTG. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
9. "Spinning Bullets ready to fire in 2016 NWBL". Sporting Wheelies. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
10. "Australia". Wheelchair Basketball Canada. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
11. Degun, Tom (11 February 2013). "Australian women's wheelchair basketball team set for Osaka Cup defence". Inside the Games. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
12. "Osaka Cup 2015 – Box Score" (PDF). Osaka Cup. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
13. "Australian Gliders named for 2016 Osaka Cup". Australian Paralympic Committee. February 2016. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
14. "Gliders squad named ahead of 2016 Osaka Cup". SBS. 2 February 2016. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
15. "2017 Asia-Oceania Championships – Australia – Women". International Wheelchair Basketball Federation. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
16. "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.
17. "Australian Steelers Are World Wheelchair Rugby Champions". Paralympics Australia. 17 October 2022. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
18. "Forged In Bronze: Steelers Reach Paralympic Podium After Eight-Year Wait | Paralympics Australia". paralympic.org.au. 2 September 2024. Retrieved 3 September 2024.

External links

• Ella Sabljak at Basketball Australia (archived)
• Ella Sabljak at the International Paralympic Committee
• Ella Sabljak at Paralympics Australia
• Ella Sabljak at Commonwealth Games Australia
• Ella Sabljak at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games