Israel Wheelchair Tennis Team Wins World Championship Bronze

The Israeli wheelchair tennis team in the Quad division secured a bronze medal at the World Championships held in the United States, defeating Chile 2-1 in a dramatic playoff. The team featured Noah Gershoni, a Paralympic gold medalist from the 2012 London Games, Guy Sasson, a medalist from the 2024 Paris Games and ranked third globally, and Roi Avrahami. Gershoni lost his opening singles match to Diego Perez 6-4, 7-5, but Sasson leveled the tie by defeating Francisco Cayulef 6-1, 6-2, despite weather interruptions. The decisive doubles match saw Sasson and Gershoni triumph over Perez and Cayulef 6-1, 6-3, clinching the bronze for Israel.

The men's Open division team, including Adam Berdichevsky, Sergey Lisov, and Amit Argov, who was severely injured during the early days of the "Swords of Iron" war, finished ninth. They lost 2-0 to the USA and then defeated Chile 2-0. The tournament also marked the 50th anniversary of wheelchair tennis. The head of the delegation, Kobi Wiener, recalled the sport's inception, emphasizing its founder's belief in outdoor training for athletes with disabilities and its eventual integration into the International Tennis Federation in 2000. The sport arrived in Israel in 2004, with Wiener playing a key role in developing the national program and coaching early pioneers like Shraga Weinberg and Boaz Kramer, who became Paralympic medalists in 2008.