AUS/USA - Australia men and USA women finish top of the World

BIRMINGHAM (World Wheelchair Basketball Championship) - The final day of the World Championships saw the men and women fight it out for medals and it was Australia men and USA women who claimed the gold.

In the first match of the day saw reigning World Champions Canada women take on Australia in the bronze medal match.

In the first quarter Australia steamed ahead in the first quarter and establishing a 17 -8 lead. The second quarter was much more even with only one point the difference in the score however Canada had made no dent in the deficit and Australia looked comfortable.

It was like a different team came out of the Canadian dressing room to start the second half, much more fired up the Canadian's were led by the experience of Chantal Benoit and the shooting sensation that is Janet McLachlan, Canada got themselves right back in the game cutting the difference to just 3 points at the end of the third quarter.

Australia were struggling to finish under the pressure from Canada and shot the ball at only 34% throughout the game, compared to Canada who shot the ball at 47% and it was in the final quarter were Canada pulled away with an outstanding 10 minutes beating the Australians 21 - 8. Canada won the game 59 -49 to claim the bronze medal.

European Champions Italy looking to add to their success last year with a bronze medal in their 3 - 4 classification game with USA on the final day of the World Championships. Both sides were looking to make up for the disappointment of missing out on playing in the Final after losing their semi final matches.

The USA raced into an early lead and by the end of the first quarter they held a lead of 15 - 10. Italy came back in the second quarter but USA kept them at arm's length throughout. Joseph Chambers was the main threat in both periods and Italy were struggling to contain him while Amine Moukhariq was the stand out player for Italy. At half time the score was 23 - 31 to USA but Italy felt that they still had a chance to come back into it.

The third quarter however finished all chances of an Italy comeback as USA tightened up their defence and started to take all of their chances on offence. Italy simply could not find a way through and the end of the quarter saw USA restrict Italy to just six points while scoring 21 points of their own. Going into the final quarter the score stood at 52 - 29 and USA could sense the victory was theirs. Italy kept up well but USA had too much for them and the match ended with a convincing 71 - 42 to USA. Joseph Chambers was the stand out player for USA with an impressive 19 points and 14 rebounds. Moukhariq and Alberto Pellegrini played well for Italy with Moukhariq scoring 10 points and Pellegrini securing nine rebounds.

The women's gold medal match took place between Germany and USA and it was a match fit to end any world championships. The two evenly matched teams played an extremely close contest with the game not being won until the final seconds. Germany took the lead at the end of the first quarter, 14 - 10, but neither side could really pull away as the quality of the basketball was of such a high standard. At half time Germany still led but by the narrowest of margins as USA cut the deficit to one point at 30 - 29. By the end of the third quarter there was no separating the teams as the scores were level at 40 -40 as the two sides went into the final quarter. An extremely tense period of play saw each side matching the other with one point the difference. With six seconds left on the clock USA scored to make it 54 - 53 in their favour and as Germany played out their final offence a field goal conversion would have won it. However Simone Kues' shot was blocked by Andrea Woodson-Smith and the game was all but over. USA had time to shoot two free throws, missing one and scoring the other to give a final score of 55 - 53 to USA. USA took the gold in the most dramatic of circumstances leaving the Germans deflated and disappointed with their silver medal.

Becca Murray was in excellent form once again with 25 points and a superb shooting percentage of 71%. For Germany Marina Mohnen was again the top scorer and Gesche Schunemann also had an excellent game scoring 15 points and securing 10 rebounds. USA flags were flying highest as the women completed an excellent day for Team USA after the men had won bronze earlier in the day.

The final match of the 2010 World Wheelchair Basketball Championships saw Australia taking on the tournament's surprise package, France. Australia went into the match as favourites and the first half performance saw them live up to that tag. The first quarter saw them take an early lead as the period finished 20 - 15. A quality of Basketball once again befitting a gold medal match was once again on show as Australia stretched their lead in the second quarter as the half time score stood at 45 - 29 to Australia. The second half however saw France come out fighting as they refused to let go their grip on a gold medal. France outscored Australia in the third quarter by 17 to 14 as hopes of a comeback gathered pace. In the final quarter France again pushed Australia and reduced the deficit to six points but some key three point misses by the French as they tried to get back on level terms meant that Australia were able to pull away and make the game safe. A valiant effort by France was not quite enough and the final score of 79 - 69 meant that Australia were crowned the world champions for 2010. 4

For France Sofyane Mehiaoui was again the star player as he scored 16 points and for Australia Justin Eveson and Shaun Norris did the damage scoring 23 and 18 points respectively. Eveson cemented his place in the tournament's top scorer list while Mehiaoui sealed his place in the 10 best three point shooters.

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