Pollock, who was part of the team that took bronze at the Beijing 2008 Paralympics, led from the front as GB justified their position as world No2 and indicated they are real contenders for a podium finish at this summer's Games in London.

Great Britain led throughout the match, and while Pollock admits he felt his side could have scored more, he says the most important thing was developing fitness levels and understanding within the team.

"It was going to be tough," Pollock said.

"They've done their homework and we've done ours.

"It was a battle of attrition out there, today we came out on top, which is a good thing.

"The key is getting the fitness and getting used to playing together and I think we made strides in that department today.

"We would have liked to have scored more, there's no doubt, but we won, which is all that matters.

"I'm not interested in personal points or anything like that, I'm only interested in how the team did with our objectives.

"I'm pretty sure we didn't hit all of our targets, that's why they came so close, but we're moving in the right direction."

Great Britain's women were unlucky to go down 36-49 to an inspired United States team despite a remarkable leading-score performance from Amy Conroy (pictured below), who managed 23 points.


After the US had edged the first quarter 12-13, Becca Murray and Natalie Schneider, who scored 20 and 10 respectively, gradually helped them pull away to win.

While disappointed with the result, Conroy was optimistic about the rest of the tournament and promised fans at Manchester Regional Arena a great performance tomorrow.

Conroy said: "It was disappointing to lose today, but the opposition came out fighting and they just performed better than us.

"They were aggressive from the start and quick and we need to be more like that.

"We will be better tomorrow and make sure we bring everything we have got."

Reflecting on her side's first appearance at the BT Paralympic World Cup, USA's Sarah Castle said: "This is our first time here at the BT Paralympic World Cup and that was a great first game.

"We need to tweak a few things but it's a great start to the tournament against a great side who are young and fast."

It was a successful first day on the court all round from the USA, as the men's team saw off Japan 46-76 in a high-scoring battle.

Josh Turek, Nate Hinze and Jason Nelmes all notched double-figure hauls for the USA side, with the latter scoring 22 points, while Hiroaki Kozai top scored with 15 for Japan.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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