Britain's Warburton bags convincing opening win for his team at Paralympics wheelchair basketball

Britain’s Gregg Warburton played an extraordinary game, leading his team to win the wheelchair basketball tournament at the Paris Paralympics with a 76-55 win against Germany on Thursday.

The 27-year-old, twice a Paralympic bronze medallist in 2016 and 2020, racked up an impressive 24 points to give his country victory in their first Group A game at the Bercy Arena. “Opening game, obviously a few nerves, but we got them out of the way early,” said Warburton, 27.

“We´ve got a lot of work still to do, but first one in the books, good start.” The Lancashire-native had both feet amputated when he was six-months-old and was born with an abnormality to his left arm, resulting in it being shorter and having only two fingers.

Despite being disable, Warburton gave a dominant performance on the court.

However, the wheelchair basketball athlete was not satisfied with his performance: “It´s far from perfect. I still missed some easy shots. “But I´m happy with how the game went and, most importantly, we got a win. “It was an honour to play in front of such a good crowd,” he added of the thousands of fans packed into the arena.

The Great Britain initiated well, with captain Philip James assisting Warburton for their first two-pointer of the tournament. Germany’s Matthias Guntner led the fightback in the second quarter as the Germans overcame their sluggish start, but Britain still led 32-25 at the break even though Guntner soon found his shooting touch and would finish with 19 points.

During the third quarter of the game, Thomas Boehme from Germany made a three-point shot, which increased the chances for his team.

Nevertheless, Warburton, 27, and his fellow athlete Ben Fox, helped Britain by scoring crucial points, increasing their lead to 10 points.

In the last quarter, they proved too strong and cruised to a convincing opening win.

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