The 2008 Beijing Paralympic bronze medallists were in fine form throughout with their star performer Ian Sagar top scoring with 15 points.

Italy never looked like troubling the home side and in front of a packed crowd, Britain put the game beyond any reasonable doubt by half time as they went into the break with a 21-13 lead.

Italy were more aggressive in the second half but the twenty point victory margin highlighted Britain’s dominance throughout.

But, despite the comfortable win, Britain’s head coach Murray Treseder warned that his side cannot get carried away with themselves.

Treseder told insideworldparasport: "We beat a poor Italian side but that is nothing to celebrate.

"We have some really tough games left ahead of us and if we play the way we did today, we will really struggle against Canada and Australia.

"We got well ahead of Italy but then we made some sloppy errors.

"Our performance needs to be consistent and we need to make sure that we don’t drop our level even when we are well ahead."

Sagar added: "I am really surprised I was lead scorer, that is not the norm for me but I am so happy with my performance.

"Saying that I could not have done it without great set-ups from the rest of the team.

"We need to keep making those game plays through out the tournament."

In the other wheelchair game in the men’s competition, Canada caused an upset by beating Australia 39-36.

In a repeat on the wheelchair final at the Beijing Paralympics, Canada took an early lead that they never relinquished and with David Durepos top scoring with 16 points, they held on for a notable victory.

In the women's competition, Britain did not fare nearly as well as the male counterparts as they lost 56-30 to Canada.

Louise Sugden was Britain’s top point’s scorer with eight but Janet McLachlan claimed a huge haul of 24 points to put the home side to the sword. 

Sugden said: "We were lacking in defence, it really wasn’t there today.

"Hopefully tomorrow it will pick up.

"Janet [McLachlan] is a great player, if we could track her down, we’d have a great game but today we just didn’t."

McLachlan said: "It’s great for Canada to be here in the BT Paralympic World Cup, it’s quite a small venue so the atmosphere is nice and you really get a feel for the game.

"I am looking forward to our next game; we have made a great start to the competition."

In the opening game of the women’s competition, the Netherlands piped Australia 43-42 in a thrilling encounter. 

Britain's men are set to take on Canada tomorrow while the women face the Netherlands in a must-win encounter.

In the other game in the men’s competition, Italy face a tough task against Australia while in the women’s draw Canada play Australia. 

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected] 


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