The Japanese raced ahead against the hosts and by half-time had established a comfortable 17-6 lead. 

However, after some stern words from head coach Murray Treseder at the interval, the team came out firing.

Britain scored 17 unanswered points to take a 23-17 lead at the end of the third quarter and carried on their good form in the final quarter to secure a 74-53 victory in the Group-A fixture.

Jon Pollock top scored for the hosts with 22 points while Simon Munn chipped in with a valuable haul of 18.

In the women’s event, Britain were not so fortunate as they went down 49-54 to defending world champions Canada despite a brave showing.

In the only women’s game of the day, Helen Turner top scored for Britain with 13 points but the hosts had no answer to the brilliant Janet McLachlan who scored a vital 24 points for her side. 

Canada went on to round of a successful for the country as the men’s team, who like their female counterparts are defending world champions, beat Mexico 68-45 in their Group-B clash.

David Eng claimed 19 points for Canada but was outscored by the impressive Salvador Zavala of Mexico who was unlucky to be on the losing side.

The men’s Beijing 2008 Paralympic gold medalists’ Australia were another team to get off to good start at the NIA as they saw off France 75-63 in their Group-B clash with Brad Ness scoring 25 points and claiming 8 rebounds.

In the day's only other game, Turkey beat Algeria 83-52 in Group-B with the on form Ozgur Gurbulak scoring 32 points and getting 10 rebounds.

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