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Japan’s women team came into day 3 of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games wheelchair basketball competition with plenty of confidence following back to back wins. However, Canada was the fresher team during the early morning game and set an end to the host’s winning streak - with a 61-35 victory. Kady Dandenau had a major impact on both ends of the court as she scored 19 points and grabbed 9 boards.
Canada's Arinn Young said:
“We’re definitely getting our two-year game jitters out of the way right now and we’re having a lot of fun doing it. What’s making us so successful is we’re just laughing off our mistakes and we’re making basketball fun for everyone at home.”
The other game in Group A was the re-match of the 2018 Wheelchair Basketball World Championships’ semi-final between Germany and Great Britain. After the heavy loss as host nation during the World Championships in Hamburg, Germany today got some redemption by beating GB 35-53. Once again, it was Mareike Miller who did a lot of the heavy lifting by scoring 21 points and getting 18 rebounds. She shared double-double honours with her teammate Katharina Lang (16pts, 12 rebounds).
After last night’s shock for the Netherland’s team, they had no mercy with today’s opponent, Algeria. The 109-18 blow-out put the Netherlands on track in Group B and more importantly, they underlined how ambitious they plan to be during the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
Following the game The Netherlands' Mariska Beijer added:
“Yesterday it was not only me but almost the entire team (that) just could not fit the basketball inside the basket. So it was really nice today that everyone was able to score and our shot percentage (61%) was just our normal.
“We got quite a few of the girls that made their first Paralympic points so we were really celebrating that - that’s really important too.”
In the second pairing of this group, China demonstrated again how strong defence is the key to success. They kept their Spanish opponents at 29 points. With the W against Spain (29-46) they now stand at the top of Group B with a 3-0 record.
For full wheelchair basketball schedule and results click here.
Pictures: Shingo Ito X-1
