Leanne Del Toso
2012 Australian Paralympic Team portrait of Del Toso
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality |
 Australia
|
| Born | 12 August 1980 |
| Sport | |
| Country | Australia |
| Sport | Wheelchair basketball |
| Disability class | 3.5 |
| Event(s) | Women's team |
| Club | Victoria |
Leanne Del Toso (born 12 August 1980) is a 3.5 point wheelchair basketball player who represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, where she won a silver medal. Diagnosed with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy at the age of nineteen, Del Toso started playing wheelchair basketball in 2006. Playing in the local Victorian competition, she was named the league's most valuable player in 2007. That year started playing for the Knox Ford Raiders in the Women's National Wheelchair Basketball League (WNWBL). The following year, she was named the team's Players' Player and Most Valuable Player (MVP).
Del Toso has played for the Dandenong Rangers in the WNWBL since 2008. In the semifinal between her Dandenong Rangers and the Goudkamp Gladiators in 2009, she scored 31 points while pulling down 19 rebounds that saw the Rangers win 81–42. The Dandenong Rangers won back-to-back titles in 2011 and 2012.
Del Toso made her debut with the Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team, known as the Gliders, at the 2009 Osaka Cup in Japan. Since winning a silver medal in London, she has participated in the 2013 Osaka Cup in Japan, where the Gliders successfully defended the title they had won in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012.
Nicknamed Dori, Del Toso was born on 12 August 1980. At the age of nineteen, she was diagnosed with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP), a heredity condition that involves damage to the nerves. Del Toso has two siblings; her younger brother Daniel also developed the disease. Prior to her diagnosis, she played regular basketball. Del Toso has worked as a receptionist, and as a participation assistant for Basketball Victoria. As of 2013[update], she lives in Watsonia, Victoria.
Del Toso was a 4 point wheelchair basketball player. Due to the progress of her disease, she was reclassified as a 3.5 point player in 2013. As of 2012[update], she has a scholarship with the Victorian Institute of Sport, and in financial year 2012/13, she received a A$20,000 grant from the Australian Sports Commission as part of its Direct Athlete Support (DAS) program. She received $17,000 in 2011/12 and 2010/11, $5,571.42 in 2009/10 and $5,200 in 2008/09. In 2012, she trained in Dandenong, Kew, Box Hill and Knox.
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