Pratt Setting Sights On Tokyo Gold After Leading GB To World Wheelchair Glory

No sooner had Phil Pratt guided the British wheelchair basketball world title in Hamburg than he was setting in his sights on more gold at the Tokyo Paralympics in two years time.

The 24-year-old Newport star was once again central to his side’s 79-62 success as they beat the six time champions, USA. The British captain contributed 12 points as he ensured the men went to go one better than their female counterparts in the women’s final the day before.

“This is the start of something great. We have been working hard to get to this stage and the belief in the team has been so high,” said Pratt.

“We are such a young team, but we are good friends. This showed on the floor when times got tough – we dug in deep and knew it would come good at the end.

“We definitely believed we could win. This is the first time we have ever been in this situation. We aren’t the underdogs anymore and we will now have a different mindset as we build towards Tokyo.

“I’ve just played against Matt Scott and Steve Sterio, who were among my idols growing up. I watched hours of clips of them and now I have played against them and beaten them in a World Championship final – it’s ridiculous.

“To beat them by 17 points in the final is unbelievable. I don’t think they’ve lost a game for nearly four years, so to be the team that broke that streak . . . Wow!”

The Americans had won the first battle 66-59 a week earlier, but they simply couldn’t handle the British fire-power in the final in what was undoubtedly a battle of the wheelchair basketball titans as Paralympic bronze medallist GB met the 2016 gold medallists.

Pratt’s men left their hearts on the Hamburg court in the final as they delivered a commanding and unstoppable performance. The stats speak for themselves with George Bates, Harry Brown, Gregg Warburton, Phil Pratt and Lee Manning all adding to the GB points tally, Bates achieving an incredible 87% FG average and Pratt making 12 assists.