Britain's men's team, who have crushed all three of their opponents prior to this game, against Germany, Switzerland and Belgium respectively, but they were given their sternest test yet by the Italians in a close encounter.

The teams matched each other basket for basket in the first quarter going into the second tied at 16-16, before the Italians stormed into a five-point lead thanks to a huge three-pointer from Galliano Marchionni, leading British head coach Haj Bhania to bring on Ade Orogbemi and Harry Brown in an attempt to muster up a comeback, but Britain still trailed by three points at half-time.

The fightback began for the reigning champions with eight consecutive points, giving them a one point advantage going into the final quarter, where the game turned into a fierce battle between the two sides.

Britain led by just two points with 13 seconds to play, and all looked lost when Italy's Cavagnini managed to score from underneath and draw the foul off Terry Bywater, giving him the chance to win the game for his side, but he missed the chance from the three-throw line, meaning the game would go into overtime.

Italy defeated Switzerland yesterday in overtime so it was bound to be a nervy period for Britain, but Bywater, Orogbemi, Brown and Munn made no mistake with their free-throws, putting away nine between them to secure the victory by 83-75.

Bhania said: "It was a super game for the crowd, the spectators and the team.

"Italy were just excellent, they fought really hard.

"We had to make intelligent decisions and that's what won it for us in the end."

Player Simon Brown said: "It was a really tough game.

"I think we needed a tough game though for the next round and obviously needed the win.

"A lot of us play in Italy so it was a lot of fun to play against them and against our friends and teammates and those who we play against a lot.

"The Italians were gladiators out there today.

"They needed the win and fought really hard so we had to match them all the way.

"We're excited about tomorrow's game, the Dutch have been the surprise package so far, we've seen them over the last few years going up and up and now they are ready."

Britain's women's side went down to their first defeat of the Championships against Paralympic bronze medallists the Netherlands

The women's team did not fare so well however against the side that took bronze at London 2012, the Netherlands, as they went down 62-42 in their first defeat of the tournament.

The Dutch raced into an early lead with the score stood at 17-10 in the first quarter, but the Britons matched the pace of their opponents tying the quarter 13-13 to make it 30-23 at the half-time interval.

However, a devastating run of 15 unanswered points after the restart for the Netherlands wrapped up the win, but Britain's earlier two wins were enough to see them advance to the quarter-finals where they will face Spain tomorrow.

Coach Joe Jayaratne said: "It was always going to be a difficult game, the Netherlands are probably second or thirrd if not the best team in the world.

"We felt the performance was sporadic and that's the problem, we seem to perform really well for short periods but at the moment, buy are not quite there yet of putting those good performances together for a consistent amount of time.

"It will be a tricky game against Spain tomorrow we have to play well, it's not a game that we can just turn up and win.

"We will have to put right some of things we weren't doing well in order to win that game.

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