THE BT PARALYMPIC WORLD CUP
MANCHESTER 2009 pt 2
by Mike Shaft

And so the tournament continued with, it has to be said, not many surprises. Both Great Britain Men and Women struggled while Australia coasted through the pool games undefeated, as did The Netherlands. And so it was to the semi finals that we went.

In the Women's game, China would take on Mexico while The Netherlands would come up against hosts Great Britain. In the Men's competition, Australia will take on Great Britain while the USA would entertain Germany.

And Game 1 would prove just how wonderful Sport could be. Most people would have put their mortgage on an easy win for China as they had already defeated Mexico in the Pool games. But Head Coach Rene Pimental of Mexico must have done his home work as his Women matched China play for play.

The first quarter was astounding as only 2 points were scored by either team in the first 5 minutes of play. At the end of the first it was 7 to Mexico and 6 to China. We were in for a ballgame.

In the second it was more of the same as tough defence was the order of the day. China Head Coach Lie Tiehua shuffled his pack and got some success, but Mexico were killing them on the boards and then getting points in the paint.

At the half it was a 3 point game with China holding a slender lead 16 - 19.

During the third it would get even closer as Torres, Estrada and Vazquez dominated at both ends of the floor while Cao Quipingo and Cheng Haizhen did their best to keep China in touch. At the end of the third it was a 1 point game as Mexico led 26 - 25.

This could go either way but was looking more and more likely to go the way of the Mexicans. They seemed more organised and were again cleaning up the boards.

In the end they would win the ball game but the comfortable margin of 46 to 32. They would outscore the Chinese women by 20 points to 7 in the final quarter and they would out-rebound them over the game by 53 to 30.

Mexico were led by Estrada with 14 points and 18 rebounds while Vazquez added 12 points and 13 rebounds. Torres missed out on her own double double by a whisker getting 8 points and 15 rebounds. For China only Cao Quipingo got into double figures with 11 points.

This had been a great game and a fantastic performance by the Mexicans. Speaking after the game Floralia Estrada said, “The Chinese team are really fast so we are really pleased with the win. The match was not our best performance though; we can do better and improve.”

Unfortunately, the second semi-final for the Women and both semi-finals for the men threw up no surprises. The Netherlands comfortably defeated Great Britain and would meet Mexico in the Championship game while China would meet Great Britain for Bronze.

In the Men's competition, Australia and the USA took their rightful place in the Gold medal game, while Great Britain and Germany would have to go at each other for Bronze.

And so it is the final day of the Wheelchair competition at the BT Paralympic World Cup in Manchester and we have got four great games in prospect. Game 1 will see Great Britain Woman take on China for Bronze and this was always going to be tough for GB. The Chinese who were soundly beaten by Mexico in the semi were not going to make that mistake again and although GB put up a great fight it would be China who would hold out for Bronze.

The Men's Bronze medal game pitted Germany against Great Britain and GB were not about to give this up. They controlled the game from start to finish with Head Coach Murray Treseder rotating his players to make sure that the Germans could not get close. It was a great performance by the home team and finally gave the excellent home crowd something to truly shout about.

Top scorer Joe Bestwick was the star performer with a 18 points, but the 25-year-old refused to take the plaudits for what he believes was a good all-round display at the end of a very useful tournament for the new-look Great Britain team.

“It’s not about individual performances. I was just part of the five guys on the court and the seven guys on the bench who all wanted to win together,” Bestwick said.

“He continued, “There are seven new guys in this squad who have never played at this level before so it’s been really exciting to see them out there and gel as a unit. The BT Paralympic World Cup is perfect for blooding players and letting them prove to the coaches what they can do.”

And now to the two Championship games; in the Women's competition reigning Champions Netherlands would take on Mexico while the two powerhouses of the Men's competition would go head to head. Unfortunately neither result was ever in doubt as The Netherlands proved too much for the women of Mexico.

The star of the game was Inge Huitzing who was simply awesome. She shot the lights out finishing with an astonishing 27 points while Van Oostrum chipped in with 11. For the Mexicans Estrada led with 16 while Vazquez added 13..

The final score was 66 - 42 in favour of the Netherlands who won Paralympic World Cup Gold again.

In the Men's final the USA did all they could to slow down the Aussie train but unfortunately there was simply no way the Aussies were going to give this up. They were simply breathtaking with Justin Eveson killing the USA at both ends of the court. Offensively Stibners, and Knowles were just beautiful and to be honest the USA simply did not have an answer.

Steve Serio and Brian Bell did their best but on this day it was not enough and when Chris Okon was ejected for two unsportman like fouls, their day was well and truly over.

The Australians who had been in 4 of the 5 Paralympic Worlc Cups in Manchester finally won Gold. They had been sensational all week long and thoroughly deserve their Championship win.

MVP Tristan Knowles felt his side did well to handle the pressure as the favourites.“I think there’s always a bit of pressure coming into the tournament as favourites and you can get a little nervous, but not to sound clichéd we just took it one game at a time,” said Knowles.

He added, “The BT Paralympic World Cup is unreal. We don’t get many chances that often to play international teams being so far away in Australia so to have this opportunity to play real quality is great.”

And so another BT Paralympic World Cup comes to a close in Manchester and what another joyful event it was. Record breaking crowds and some great basketball, and while this competition might not have had the drama of previous years the overall quality of play has been higher than ever.

Below you will see the mikeshaft.com All First Team for both the Men and the Women, and the Men's and Women's MVPs of the tournament. There had been some outstanding performances throughout the tournament and one remembers the 5 three pointers scored in one pool game by Chris Okon of the USA. The 27 points scored by Huitzing in the Women's Final and the all-round awesome play by the Aussies through out the week.

And who could forget the awesome speed and sensational passing of Brian Bell of the USA...now there is a guy for the future.

I know that some people describe Wheelchair Basketball as disabled sport. I am afraid that I totally disagree with that description. This tournament had been SPORT of the highest order and the athletes taking part deserve every acclaim that they get.

Some people still only see the wheelchair but I say look into the eyes of these athletes, look at their skill level and look at their joy at winning and at taking part and you will know that this truly is Sport as it should be played.

It has been a joy once again to be a part of it.

Later

Mike S

READ THE MIKE SHAFT BLOG pt 1 HERE

MIKE SHAFT 2009 UNOFFICIAL PHOTO ALBUM

READ ABOUT THE 2008 PARALYMPIC WORLD CUP HERE

'mikeshaft.com'
2009 BT PARALYMPIC WORLD CUP ALL FIRST TEAM

MEN			WOMEN
JUSTIN EVESON	AUSTRALIA		FU YONGQING	CHINA
BRETT STIBNERS	AUSTRALIA		PENG FENLING	CHINA
SHAUN NORRIS	AUSTRALIA		CAO QUIPINGO	CHINA
TRISTAN KNOWLES	AUSTRALIA		ROCIO TORRES	MEXICO
ANDRE BIENEK	GERMANY		FLORILIA ESTRADA	MEXICO
LARS LEHMANN	GERMANY		LUCIA VAZQUEZ	MEXICO
DAN HIGHCOCK	GREAT BRITAIN		ELSBETH VAN OOSTRUM	NEDERLANDS
MATT SEALY	GREAT BRITAIN		CHER KORVER	NEDERLANDS
PETER FINBOW	GREAT BRITAIN		INGE HUITZING	NEDERLANDS
CHRIS OKON	USA		CLARE STRANGE	GREAT BRITAIN
BRIAN BELL	USA		HELEN FREEMAN	GREAT BRITAIN
STEVE SERIO	USA		LOUISE SUGDEN	GREAT BRITAIN
2009 'MIKESHAFT.COM' PARALYMPIC WORLD CUP PLAYERS OF THE TOURNAMENT
WOMEN'S MVP INGE HUITZING - THE NETHERLANDS
MEN'S JOINT MVP SHAUN NORRIS - AUSTRALIA BRIAN BELL - USA