3 months ago

 

The Championships will see the top 12 men’s and 8 women’s wheelchair basketball teams in Europe compete, between the 28 June to the 7 July, for the title and also qualification to the World Championships next year.

The GB Women have been drawn in an exciting Group B and will face old rivals The Netherlands (London 2012 Bronze medallists), Turkey and Italy, who are welcomed back to the European Championships after missing the competition in 2011. In Pool A, reigning London 2012 Paralympic Champions Germany take on France, Spain and Israel.

GB Women’s player, Laurie Williams, said “I’m quite excited about our group for the Europeans. The Dutch game will be tough as it always is but I think we’ll have a comfortable crossover regardless and stand a good chance of making the final. The work we have been doing at camps since London has been looking really good and I definitely believe we’ll perform the best we ever have.”

Current European Champions, the GB Men’s team have been drawn in Group A and will be up against, current European silver Medallists Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland. Group B in the men’s competition will see Spain, Turkey, Poland, Israel, Sweden and France fight it out.

GB men’s player, Terry Bywater, said “We’ve got a good draw as we know all the teams in the group well including Germany and having them in the group means we can get revenge from the Paralympics.

“The Europeans will give us chance to bounce back from London and show everyone we are a winning team. Being reigning champions means that we are the team everyone wants to beat. If we could win back to back golds that would be something very special.”

British Wheelchair Basketball Chairman, Malcolm Tarkenter, said “We know the European Championships are going to be tough whoever we were drawn against in the pool stages, as the European Zone is the toughest Zone to compete in. It includes six out of the current top 10 countries in the world.

“However, we are confident and optimistic that both the Standard Life GB men and women’s team will go to Frankfurt and do well, enabling them to qualify for the World Championships taking place next year.”

Women’s Groups
Group A        Group B    
A1    Germany    B1    The Netherlands
A2    France    B2    Great Britain
A3    Spain    B3    Turkey
A4    Israel    B4    Italy

Men’s Groups
Group A        Group B    
A1    Great Britain    B1    Spain
A2    Germany    B2    Turkey
A3    Italy    B3    Poland
A4    The Netherlands    B4    Israel
A5    Belgium    B5    Sweden
A6    Switzerland    A6    France