Ella Sabljak
Australian wheelchair basketball player
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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]
Sabljak at the 2017 IWBF Asia-Oceania Championships in Beijing in October 2017 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 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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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]