By Tom Degun in Manchester

Helen_Freeman_v_Germany_in_final_of_BT_Paralympic_World_Cup_May_26_2011May 26 - Britain women's wheelchair basketball team were today crowned champions of the BT Paralympic World Cup for the first time as they beat Germany 63-52 in the final shortly before Britain's men claimed bronze with a 63-43 win over Brazil in the third-place play-off.


In front of a packed out crowd at the Manchester Regional Arena, Britain's Helen Freeman (pictured) continued a stunning week as she again top scored for the hosts with a 22-point haul while Amy Conroy and Laurie Williams were also in double figures as they hit 16 and 11 respectively.

Germany were led by Gesche Schunemann who posted 18 points but it was not enough to stop a rampant British side who dominated from start to finish to cap a tremendous week with their first ever BT Paralympic World Cup crown.

Head coach Garry Peel said: "This feels great.

"I said to the girls just be in control of the game.

"We started attacking the basket and seemed to be happy with that but I told them to keep going.

"This year we have the Europeans next and also the first ever World Championships for the under 25s; we have six girls in this team who will be there.

"Our goal is top four in [London] 2012 but that's still so far away so for now we just have to take it one step at a time."

Freeman added: "We have a lot of young players in this squad and its perfect timing as they are all coming through now.

"It's amazing to win as I've never won at this tournament before.

"Germany are second in the world so now we feel like we can beat anyone.

"It wasn't easy though but we just had a self-belief we could win."

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Later in the day Britain's men's team secured the bronze medal as they defeated Brazil by a 20 point margin.

Terry Bywater was Britain's top scorer with 17 points as the team rounded off a disappointing week in positive fashion.

Bywater said: "We knew we had to come out of this game with a medal and we didn't want to let the fans down and we showed what the British team is all about."

The result came after Canada were crowned the men's wheelchair basketball champions of as they beat France 56-46 in the gold medal match.

Patrick Anderson was the outstanding performer for the Canadians as they led from start to finish.

France were let down by the accuracy of their shooting but Canada were ruthless in front of the basket and secured a well-deserved win.

Canada's Peter Richard said: "France played hard but we had a good start and played defence well.

"We've had a great time at the BT Paralympic World Cup and it's been even better because we've won.

"The crowd, the way we've been hosted, it's all been brilliant.

"In the lead up to London 2012 we will have lots of camps and tournaments to stay in shape and get ready for qualification, and this is just the kind of result we'll be looking for at all future events.

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Japan's women completed the podium places as they beat Canada's women 55-44 to round off an impressive week for them.

Today's results saw the first team points being posted towards the overall BT Paralympic World Cup trophy which is being competed for across wheelchair basketball, athletics and swimming.

With the men's and women's results counting as one score, Britain and Europe are tied at the top of the table on 30 points, followed by the Americas on 25 points and defending champions the Rest of the World with 15 points.

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