Shinichi Shimakawa (島川 慎一, Shimakawa Shinichi, born January 29, 1975) is a Japanese wheelchair rugby player who currently plays for Barclays Securities and the Japanese national team. He participated in the Summer Paralympics in 2012 and won a bronze medal in the 2016, 2020 editions and a gold medal in the 2024 edition.
Background and career
At the age of 21, Shimakawa was involved in a traffic accident that damaged his cervical spinal cord, forcing him to use a wheelchair. In summer 1999, he started playing wheelchair rugby after watching a match. In 2005, he founded "BLITZ". To date, he has won the Japan Championships eight times. At the same time, he began playing in the USQRA (US domestic league) as a member of the Phoenix Heat from the 2005–2006 season. In the 2005–2006 season, he won his first USQRA Division I Nationals (US Championships) and became the first foreign player to receive the USQRA Athlete of the Year award. After that, he played in the US domestic league for a total of four seasons, winning the US national championship in two of those seasons.
In 2021, Shimakawa was selected as a recommended player for the Japanese national team for the 2020 Summer Paralympics and won a bronze medal.[1][2]
Awards and honors
In 2016, Shimakawa received the Saitama Sports Achievement Award.[3]
