Sport
1 July, 2023
Rollers fall short at world champs
Horsham's Jannik Blair and his Aussie Rollers have finished the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) World Championships in Dubai in seventh place. The Rollers faced off against Germany in their final match, winning 59-57, but after...
Horsham's Jannik Blair and his Aussie Rollers have finished the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) World Championships in Dubai in seventh place.
The Rollers faced off against Germany in their final match, winning 59-57, but after suffering an earlier defeat in the quarter final against the United States and going down against Canada, it was not enough to allow them to compete for the ultimate glory.
Mr Blair, who has been a mainstay in the Aussie Rollers since 2009, said the side "underachieved expectations heading into the tournament".
"There were a lot of different factors and a lot of reviewing will be done so we expect to see some major changes," Mr Blair said.
"We still feel like we're not far off where we need to be but losing two quarter finals in a row might say otherwise.
"We have a talented enough playing group that if we put people in the right spots and play our consistent style of basketball for an entire tournament, we can still be among the top couple of teams in the world."
The Aussie Rollers will head to the 2024 Paralympic Games qualifiers in Bangkok at the start of next year.