The Rollers, as they are called, were the first team to test the facilities at Cardiff University, which will be used by the Australian Paralympic team as a training base before the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

Team manager Leigh Gooding said the team was happy with its training camp and believes the Australian Paralympic team will benefit from Cardiff University’s world class facilities before heading to London in 2012.

"The Cardiff camp was a great success for us and I believe it will be a super venue for the 2012 preliminaries for many teams," he said.

"We look forward to going back there before London."

Australia has never won the men’s or women’s World Wheelchair Basketball Championships but the Beijing Paralympic champions are confident of ending that record in Birmingham.

The Rollers won the 2009 BT Paralympic World Cup in Manchester, the Rollers World Challenge in Sydney and the IWBF (International Wheelchair Basketball Federation) Asia-Oceania Zone Championships in Melbourne.

In the more recent 2010 BT Paralympic World Cup, held in May, the Rollers won bronze, conceding their title to the powerful United States side.

The Australians will face France in their opening game of the tournament on Thursday (July 8) before taking on Mexico, Turkey, Algeria and Canada in the remaining round-robin stage.


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