Canada, Australia, U.S. and Britain in last four of men´s wheelchair basketball

Source: Xinhua | 09-13-2008 20:45

BEIJING, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Defending champion Canada, Australia, United States and Britain clinched spots in men's Paralympic wheelchair basketball semifinals after four quarterfinals played at the National Indoor Stadium on Saturday.

Powered by game-high 31 points from British center Simon Munn, Britain edged out Germany 71-64 in the last quarterfinal match.

Although German guard Lars Christink's field goal and guard Dirk Passiwan's three-point shot in the closing minutes of the game rallied the German team, the British players kept up their scoring drive until the clock ran out.

With less than a minute to play, forward Terence Bywater made two pairs of free throws and Simon Munn scored one of his 31 points on a free throw to seal off the victory.

United States was awarded to a 20-0 triumph over Iran for the latter's withdrawal from the game and is to face Canada in semifinals.

Iran withdrew from the quarterfinal match against the United States, so Iran lost the match by forfeit.

The match was originally scheduled at 11:15am and was rescheduled to 9:00am on Saturday. But Iran would not accept the change and decided to walk out of the match.

The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) announced that the United States was awarded the win by the score of 20-0 in accordance with the applicable rule and will progress to the semifinals.