Hosts Denmark open up with win at Wheelchair Rugby World Championships

By Gary Anderson

Hosts Denmark got their Wheelchair Rugby World Championships campaign off to an impressive start with a 52-43 win over Belgium, while New Zealand saw off France on the opening day of action in Odense.

The Danes got the week-long tournament underway in front of home fans at the Arena Fyn and they did not disappoint by eventually overcoming the Belgians who had pushed them all the way, particularly in the first half.

But Denmark found their rhythm in the second half to edge ahead with Leon Jørgensen the standout player.

"We kept pressuring the Belgians and in the end we simply had more energy," Jørgensen said afterwards.

"It is important for us to get a good start on the tournament especially against a team like Belgium who we have beaten many times.

"We have waited three years for this and now we are off."

The Danes made the perfect start to their World Championships challenge with a win on home soil at the Arena Fyn ©Brian Mouridsen/Danish NPC

Head coach Thor Johansson was delighted with how his side dealt with the pressure of playing on home soil.

"It was great to get underway with the tournament and feel the support from the audience every time we forced a turnover," he said.

"The team played a well-tuned brand of rugby today and we executed on the things we wanted to.

"As the coach I am especially pleased to see that we corrected the couple of small mistakes we have being making in the practice games in advance to the World Championships."

The second game of the evening saw New Zealand get the better of World Championship debutants France 55-47.

New Zealand got their campaign off to a winning start against France ©Brian Mouridsen/Danish NPC

Despite some moments of promise, the French could not match the power and pace of the New Zealanders who were led by star man Cameron Leslie.

"It was definitely a good start to the competition, our last World Championships didn't go so well so quite a few of us who were there then were keen to put those demons to bed and we've started that," said Leslie.

"We are just taking it one game at a time, we are ranked 10th in the world and we are the easy beats as far as the other teams are concerned so we've got to demand the respect from them and give them respect ourselves.

"There are plenty of fresh faces so it is good to see the younger guys on court making a difference and hopefully they can press on and get more minutes and make more competition for spots on the court."

The four teams playing today will also be on court tomorrow as all 12 nations taking part are in action.

Denmark will take on London 2012 silver medallists Canada, while Paralympic champions Australia face Great Britain and Belgium are up against Finland in Pool A.

Pool B will see the New Zealanders out again against reigning champions the United States, while Japan have two matches to contend with starting with Germany and finishing against Sweden.

The Championships take place until Sunday (August 10).

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]

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