Great Britain Men’s U23 Team have battled to fourth place at the past three U23 World Championships. With consecutive finishes falling just shy of a medal, Great Britain (GB) is in search of its first podium finish at the World Championships and we spoke to GB’s Ben Fox to see how they will look to challenge in 2017.
Aged 21 years old, Ben has been playing wheelchair basketball for a decade already and currently plays for club Sheffield Steelers. This will be his second time appearing at an U23 World Championships, following his debut for GB in 2013 in Adana, Turkey. He explained how important it is to play on a World stage as a junior player, “It’s an absolute honour to represent my country at the best junior tournament. It’s one of the best experiences you can have as a junior player, and I hope this tournament inspires many young wheelchair basketball players to push forward with their ambitions.”
Ben, who is a 3.5 classified player from Swindon in England, continued, “Just like any other team, we want to win gold, but also we want to make history and be the first GB Junior team to medal at a Worlds.
“We’re in a tough group alongside some of the powerhouses of wheelchair basketball but of course I’m going to pick GB as favourites to win!
“We’ve had numerous training camps alongside friendly tournaments which have helped us prepare for this tournament.”
Finally, when asked what he was most looking forward to about taking part in the Championships, he replied, “I can’t wait to just be able to play the sport I love with some of my best friends as well as representing GB.”
