By Tom Degun

July 16 - Britain’s men’s team finished the World Wheelchair Basketball Championships in Birmingham on a high as they secured fifth place with a convincing 82-68 win over Poland while the women finished sixth at the National Indoor Arena (NIA) with a 58-43 loss to the Netherlands.



In the men’s 5th/6th place playoff, Britain took on Poland in a rematch of their Pool-A game from last week.

With 117 points and averaging 17 points per game, Jon Pollock has been in impressive form for Britain through the competition and this continued as he led the team from the front.

Although Poland started well to gain an early seven point lead, Pollock responded with two three pointers which was followed by some great passing by the hosts.

Pollock and Simon Munn made sure Britain went into half time leading 37-36 after a close second quarter.

In the second half of the match, Poland kept pushing but were not able to compete with Britain’s superior play as the hosts claimed fifth spot at the World Championships to make it seven wins out of eight for the tournament. 

Meanwhile, Britain’s women’s faced the Dutch for the second time this tournament after a resounding win against Japan yesterday which ensured Gary Peel’s achieved their highest ever finish at a World Championships.

The Netherlands came out strong and had a point to prove after losing by just 1 point in the earlier meeting. 

They stormed into an early lead and at one stage in the second half, they led by 18 points.



However the hosts did not let their heads drop as Helen Freeman and Clare Strange continued their fine form from the rest of the tournament scoring 14 points each and keeping Britain in touch .

The Netherlands though, held on for to secure the win and finish in fifth place.

In the day’s other games, Canada secured seventh place in the men’s draw with a 71-61 over Turkey, Mexico beat Japan to finish in ninth behind Turkey while South Korea beat Algeria 64-51 to take eleventh spot.

In the women’s tournament, Japan beat China 58-41 to take seventh while Mexico downed Brazil 73-33 to earn a ninth place finish.

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Pictures: SA Images


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