The London 2012 Paralympic Wheelchair Basketball tournament tipped off on Thursday with both the Great Britain Men's and Women's teams suffering losses on the opening day.

 

Up first were the GB Women who were comfortably defeated by a Netherlands team who announced themselves as a medal threat with a comfortable 62-35 win.

 

GB scored the first three points of the game, but both teams struggled to find the bottom of the net in a first half that saw the Dutch up 20-14.

 

In the second half the Netherlands began to find their range, ending the third quarter on a 16-4 run that put them 38-24 up going into the final period.

 

Amy Conroy led GB with 15 points and Helen Freeman had 12 rebounds and 6 assists, but had a poor shooting night scoring just 2 of 17 shots. Inge Huitzing led Netherlands with 16 points and 9 assists.

 

The GB Men were involved in a great game with Germany that they lost 77-72 after overtime.

 

In a rematch of the 2011 European Championship final that GB won 76-65, Germany got off to a fast start and led 21-10 after the opening quarter.

 

The lead ballooned to as many as 18 points as the Germans continued to hit their shots but Simon Munn and Terry Bywater led a resurgence for GB that saw them down just seven at halftime.

 

When Ian Sagar netted a pair of free throws with three minutes remaining in the third period GB had scored 28 of the last 37 points and were in front for the first time since the early stages.

 

Despite finding themselves down by three going into the final quarter the Germans didn't capitulate and they hit back to lead by four in the early stages of the quarter.

 

The final moments were up for grabs with both teams making mistakes and also making great plays. In the end GB had a shot to win it in the final seconds, but Bywater's shot from just inside the free throw line rimmed out to send the game to overtime.

 

Germany scored the first four points of the extra period and then a 7-0 run capped by a Dirk Passiwan three point play gave them a lead that was too much for GB to overcome.

 

Both GB teams are back in action on Friday with the women facing Australia and the men up against Canada.

 

 

Men

USA 50-59 Turkey

Spain 67-40 Italy

Australia 93-39 South Africa

Japan 53-68 Canada

Colombia 45-63 Poland

Great Britain 72-77 Germany (OT)

 

Women

Netherlands 62-35 Great Britain

Australia 52-50 Brazil

USA 63-24 France

Mexico 46-53 China