Slam dunk Brits

By Paul Carter

The GB men’s wheelchair basketball team continued its improvement with a series of impressive performances on tour in Australia.

After the opening tournament in Sydney where it took bronze, GB went on to a series in Canberra where it beat Canada, the Paralympic silver medallists, twice and then beat Australia, the Paralympic champions.

It was a huge upset when the world’s best went down to GB by 22 points, 82-60, the first time Great Britain’s men have beaten the Australians in four years.

GB narrowly missed out on a clean sweep of its four Canberra matches, losing the last to a rejuvenated Australian side 86-72.

The squad also twice faced the former World Club Champions, Perth Wheelcats, and ended the tour losing the first match 74-51 but winning 71-66 in the final.

Great Britain coach Murray Treseder said: “The lads produced a magnificent performance, even without the presence of six Beijing Paralympians. They’ll take a lot of confidence from defeating a team they’d not beaten for four years.

“They’ve benefited greatly from their arduous 19-day tour against the two best teams in the world. They’ve been great ambassadors for their country and their sport, and have been welcomed and respected wherever they travelled. I’ve never experienced the closeness that’s been achieved on this tour”.