Brazil and USA Win Big at BT Paralympic World Cup

Brazil’s Football 7-a-Side team and USA’s Wheelchair Basketball squads opened up their competition in Manchester with large victories. 24 May 2012

Participants with and without an impairment at the UNOSDP Youth Leadership Camp tried out Paralympic Sport

ⒸIPC

“Of course it was good for us to face them here because they will be our first match in the Paralympic Games."

On the second day of the BT Paralympic World Cup in Manchester, the Football 7-a-Side match between Brazil and Great Britain lived up to its high expectations by spectators, as Brazil – the No. 4 team in the world – defeated the host nation, 4-2, in what many deemed the highlight of the day.

Jose Guimaraes netted two goals for the winning team, and Yurig Ribeiro and Wanderson Oliveira each scored once, though the squad was successful because it played as a team.

“It’s a hard match because they are very strong and the home team,” starting midfielder Mateus Calvo said of playing the British. “We have to train harder because the Paralympics are a better competition and we have to be stronger than we are now.”

Brazil head coach Paulo Cruz, whose aim is for his country to get a bronze medal at London 2012 after finishing fourth at Beijing 2008, was satisfied with the way his team played Great Britain on its home turf.

“Of course it was good for us to face them here because they will be our first match in the Paralympic Games,” he said.

“At the moment, I still think Russia, Iran and Ukraine will be the three who will be winning the three medals. Of course we are fighting for it, but we have to be realistic. Because we have a very young team, we are preparing for Rio 2016 by taking them to London.”

Josh Beacham and Ibrahima Diallo – who had quite an impressive match – scored the two goals for the British on the day.

In the first match on the pitch on Wednesday, No. 6-ranked Ireland defeated No. 8-ranked USA, 3-1, thanks to a pair of goals by midfielder Luke Evans and one by Peter Cotter.

Rene Renteria scored the lone goal for USA.

The Wheelchair Basketball competition kicked off with big wins from both USA’s men’s and women’s teams.

The American men started things off with a 76-46 victory over Japan, as Jason Nelmes scored 22 points, Nate Hinze bucketed 14 and Josh Turek chipped in 11.

Hiroaki Kozai and Reo Fujimoto scored in double figures for Japan with 15 and 11 points, respectively.

The American women followed up with a victory of their own, cruising to a 49-36 win over host nation Great Britain behind 20 points from Becca Murray.

Natalie Schenider helped out with 10 points and 12 rebounds, while Great Britain’s leading scorer was Amy Conroy with 23 points.

The two-time reigning Paralympic champions were hungry for a win after suffering a disappointing loss to Germany at the four-nations tournament last weekend in Frankfurt to finish second.

“We knew that Great Britain was going to come out with speed, youth and everything else, so we just wanted to play a high-tempo pace and come out and play them seriously,” Murray said, who admitted to being one of the top offensive sparks on the team.

Great Britain’s men’s Wheelchair Basketball team then fended off a tough German team to win its first game, 57-53.

Jon Pollock, who said he has been experiencing the most intense preparation ever for a Paralympic Games this year, led the British charge with 18 points, and Ian Sagar added 16.

Andre Bienek and Sebastian Wolk each had 15 points for Germany and Wolk grabbed 12 rebounds, but the visiting team could never seem to take the lead for good once it got it.

In the final game of the night, Germany defeated Australia, 50-38, after getting off to a quick 27-16 lead by halftime. Gesche Schunemann led Germany with 12 points, and Morina Mohenen finished with six points, 12 rebounds and four assists. Sarah Stewart led Australia with nine points and Cobi Crispin had eight points and seven rebounds.

Action continues on Thursday (24 May), with all Football 7-a-Side and Wheelchair Basketball teams competing once again in Manchester.