By Paul Osborne

Britain got off to a great start on day one of the Paralimpiadas Escolares claiming five golds in the pool as action got underway in Brazil ©CPBNovember 26 - Britain's young athletes got off to a great start in Brazil as the swimming team collected a host of gold medals in the pool on day one of the Paralimpíadas Escolares.

Despite being in São Paulo for less than 24 hours, the British swimmers got straight to work in the pool, collecting four gold medals and a bronze.

Triple Paralympic medallist Hannah Russell took the first gold for the nation, winning the S12 200 metres freestyle event in a time of 2min 13.23sec.

Russell was one of the youngest athletes to compete for Britain at London 2012 and, at just 16 years of age, took home a silver medal in the 400m freestyle, and two bronze in the 100m butterfly and backstroke.

Russell followed up her victory in the 200m freestyle in Brazil with a win in the 100m backstroke.

Alice Tai, who set a new European record in the S10 100m backstroke in Sheffield last week, was next to top the podium for Britain, winning gold in the 50m backstroke with a time of 33.24sec.

S9 200m individual medley and 100m butterfly world champion Amy Marren continued Britain's success, taking gold in the S9 50m backstroke in 33.19.

Matt Wylie rounded off a superb day in the pool for the team, winning his heat in the S9 100m backstroke before winning bronze in the final.

Hannah Russell continued her great form from London 2012 where she picked up a silver medal and two bronze ©Getty ImagesHannah Russell continued her great form from London 2012 where she picked up a silver medal and two bronze ©Getty Images


Britain's cerebral palsy football team started their competition off with a great win over a promising Rio de Janeiro side.

Captain George Fletcher scored twice as his team secured a comfortable 5-1 win in their first match.

"The standard that they played against us here today is absolutely amazing and shows that Rio has a high number of cerebral palsy players and gives us an opportunity to look at the future when we hopefully do come back to Rio in 2016," said Fletcher following his side's victory.

"Anything you can I can do better" seemed to be the motto for the British boccia players as they clocked big wins in their opening games.

In the BC3 classification Jacob Thomas opened his competition with a comprehensive 17-0 win before Patrick Wilson, also in the BC3 classification, went one better to win 18-0.

"Although it was a big score on a couple of occasions I did have to work a little bit to score the points but I'm really pleased with it," Thomas said following his win.

"To be in Brazil is an amazing experience with all the noise and colour and great atmosphere."

Not wanting to be outdone, Scotland's Kieran Steer won his opening group match 20-0 to get his competition well and truly underway in the BC4 classification.

Last to make their mark on the competition was the British goalball team who had to wait until late in the evening to get their first round match underway.

Not fazed by the evening start, the team put in an impressive performance to come out 11-6 winners after leading 5-1 at half time.

The Paralimpíadas Escolares, which sees athletes from 27 regions across Brazil compete in a total of 10 sports, will continue until November 29.

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