By Tom Degun

sitting_volleyballMarch 25 - Great Britain's men's and women's sitting volleyball teams showed their class at an International tournament at Stoke Mandeville Stadium this week as the hosts claimed victories in five of its six matches at the birthplace of the Paralympics.


Britain hosted teams from Canada and the Netherlands and despite the women's team getting off to the worst possible start by losing to the Netherlands 0-3, they then turned it around.

In the second Britain match, the men's team beat Canada 3-1 before the women redeemed themselves by beating Canada 3-1 and the men's side beat the Netherland 3-2 in their final game.

Richard Callicott, President of the British Volleyball Federation and ParalympicsGB Board member, said: "It was a strong, confident performance from the British teams today against both of our opponents."

The seeds of the Paralympics Games were sown in Stoke Mandeville in 1948 when Sir Ludwig Guttman organised events for World War Two veterans with spinal cord injuries who were rehabilitating at the local hospital.

A number of teams are set to use the famous site as their training base for the London 2012 Paralympic Games including Finland, Uganda, Papua New Guinea and Saudi Arabia.

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