GB narrowly miss out on bronze at World Wheelchair Rugby Challenge

Great Britain agonisingly missed out on a bronze medal but had a tournament to be proud of at the World Wheelchair Rugby Challenge in Japan.

The British side lost 54-49 to hosts Japan to fall just short of a medal as USA prevailed to win the trophy, beating Australia 59-51 in the final.

After a tight and tense opening quarter in which Japan took the early lead, GB drew the scores level midway through the second period and the game was very much in the balance with Japan leading 27-24 at half-time.

However, Japan began to accelerate in the final two quarters and ultimately proved just a little too strong for a resilient British outfit which gave its all.

It was a tiny margin, too, by which GB had been defeated by USA in the semi-finals – losing 49-48 in a nervy, topsy-turvy encounter.

GB previously came through Group A in second place after beating Brazil 57-35 and France 51-44 before being edged out for the first time in the competition by Japan 57-51 in the final group stage game.

In total, 35,700 people attended the five days of competition making it the highest number ever to watch a wheelchair rugby event in Japan.