The new seat (pictured), fully customisable for each player, is the result of over two years of research by UK Sport's Research and Innovation team.

Loughborough University Sports Technology Institute, British Wheelchair Basketball, BMW, contour886 and RGK have also been involved.

The new seats reduce the weight of the chairs by two kilos and minimise the risk of injury.

Tests have shown that the new seats increase speed over an agility course, improve straight line speed and reduce the time needed by players to get back on their wheelchairs if they fall over.

The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation praised the project, saying: "The new seat design is a significant step forward in the technical aspects of the wheelchair for the sport.


"It is an innovative idea and one that has not been seen anywhere in the world before.

"I'm sure that it will have a huge impact especially amongst the lower point players to have a better seating platform and more control over their chairs."

British player Ade Orogbemi (pictured below, centre, during the London 2012 bronze medal against the United States) added: "The new seat has improved my game enormously from how I was playing in my old chair.

"The stability it allows me to have now gives me the ability to turn quickly both going right and left which I was unable to do before.

"The extra speed it gives me around the court makes it easier to defend against the best attacking sides in the world to give us that unique advantage.


"I believe it is allowing me to play my best ever basketball which is not only good for me but for the whole team."

Alison Macpherson, UK Sport's research and innovation coordinator, added: "We are already seeing that our work on Paralympic technology projects is having a real positive impact on athlete performance and wellbeing, which bodes extremely well for our athletes' prospects in major international competitions.

"The way that so many partners, ranging from independent experts at contour886 to global companies like BMW, have come together to make the concept a reality has been a true reflection of the Paralympic spirit."

Despite the new seats, Britain's men were forced to settle for fourth place in the wheelchair basketball at the Paralympics.

Canada won gold, Australia silver and the United States bronze.

In the women's tournament, Britain went out to eventual winners Germany, with Australia and the Netherlands taking silver and bronze.

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