The Great Britain wheelchair rugby team got off to a flying start with their first game in the Tokyo Paralympics. They won their first game against Canada 50 – 47 on 25th August at the Yoyogi National Stadium. It was a tightly fought game with the half time results Great Britain 25 and Canada 22.
Originally known as ‘murderball’, the sport is played with a round ball, making it one of the most entertaining sports of any Games.
An opening game is always very special but this one had particular significance as CEO David Pond said
“I know that they are in every sense ready to go and prepared for the challenge of their opening game against Canada who are fourth in the all-time Paralympic Games medal table and who knocked GB out of the tournament at the Rio Games. Since then we have scored some wins against them and have pushed them into fifth place in the world rankings but they come with a fresh look and some highly talented players.”
The Yoyogi National Stadium are hosting the games with eight nations split into two groups. The games run from 25-29 August.
In a personal update David Pond thanked Get Kids Going! as a long term supporter of the team and said that without that support the team “just could not have made it to Tokyo”.
All of the wheelchair rugby games can be watched live on Channel 4 and you can also see daily updates on their website gbwr.org.uk . The team are next playing New Zealand on 26th August 2021 at 12 noon.