Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby are competing in the GIO 2018 Wheelchair Rugby World Championships being held in Sydney, Australia between 5th and 10th August.
The team of 12 includes Wales Jim Roberts from Newtown who was part of the team in Rio 2016. Roberts now plays for London and will bring his experience to the team in Sydney. There is a balance of youth and experience within the team with five athletes making their World Championship debuts.
GB Wheelchair Rugby which lost all of its UK Sport funding at the start of the Tokyo cycle is currently ranked 5th in the world and are the reigning European Champions. They have been drawn in Pool B for the championships with USA ranked No 2 and Canada No 3. France, Poland and Colombia make up the rest of the group. Pool A includes current World and Paralympic champions Australia, Paralympic bronze medallists Japan and Sweden, Denmark, Ireland and New Zealand. GB will be hoping to fight through for a place in the knockout stages and increase their world ranking.
David Pond, Chief Executive of Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby, said: “This is an exciting team selection with a number of good ball-handlers and some strong strike lines. It’s ‘the Worlds’ so it’s a tough competition and we will need to be at our absolute best if we are to get through to the final stages. Preparation has been good and even though our limited budget has stopped us being able to play in the big pre-world tournaments, I believe in this team – we can do well!”
Head Coach Paul Shaw commented, “We’ve selected an exciting squad to take into the World Championships, I’m confident we can do something special.”
For More information of GIO 2018 Wheelchair Rugby World Championships and to keep up to date with results please visit: https://www.2018wrwc.com/
