Spain defeat World Champions Australia to go top of Pool A

Day 4 of the Rio 2016 opened with a huge performance by Spain against Australia at the Rio Olympic Arena.

World Champions Australia roared into action in the opening quarter: sending Spain a strong message as they shot their way to a 21-11 lead. Spain, however, showed true grit as they battled their way back into the game and then pushed forwards to take a 35-33 advantage at half time.

Once again, the battle continued into the third quarter but once again Spain found a way to extend their lead: the Spanish side building to 51-43 with one quarter remaining in the game. There were just three points separating the teams in the final 10 minutes of the game – Spain edging it by 24-21 to secure a big 75-64 victory.

Spain’s Asier Garcia: “It was a very important game for us because we knew that we had to win by 3 or 5 points to stay first in the group, so it was a very important victory. Tomorrow we play the Netherlands and we’ll need to win that too to finish first in the group. We know that it’s going to be a very difficult game because the Netherlands has strong and fast players. For now, it’s time to relax and tomorrow we play again.”

Australia’s Head Coach Ben Ettridge said: “I think Spain played a hell of a game – if anything, this was their gold medal match; for us it’s a process about being better every time. Our goal is to be better tomorrow.”

For full match statistics click here https://www.rio2016.com/en/paralympics/wheelchair-basketball-mens-group-a-preliminary-wb-19