The upcoming World Wheelchair Games will feature seven teams from five different countries.  None of these teams are considered to be 'national' teams, which means that the results of this international competition will not affect the IWRF rankings, which are currently:

1.    CANADA
2.   United States
3.   Australia (winner of the recent Oceania Zone Championships)
4.   Great Britain (winner of the March-2003 European Zone Championships)
5.   Belgium (4th at the 2002 World Championships)
6.   New Zealand (3rd at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics)
7.    Germany
8.   Japan
9.   Denmark (4th at the 2003 European Zone Championships)
10. Sweden (5th at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics)
11. The Netherlands
12. Switzerland
13. Austria
14. Finland
15. Poland
16. Ireland
17. Norway
18. South Africa (welcome back to international competition!)
19. Czech Republic

In addition to the rugby athletes who are attending the World Wheelchair Games, Canada is represented by athletes in two other sports: powerlifting and fencing.  Ottawa's Sally Thomas will compete in the -40 kg women's division, and Sylvie Morel, from the Montreal area, will be fencing épée.  Thomas placed 4th at the 2002 World Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, while Morel is currently ranked 16th in Women's Category "A" Épée.

More info on wheelchair fencing is available on my fencing club's web site, or you can check out the IWFC's web site, although mine comes out as #1 on the Google search list for "wheelchair fencing".