Germany women see off Canada to top Pool A

At the Carioca Arena, Day 4 of the Rio 2016 opened with a thrilling battle between Germany and Canada – with the top positions in the Women’s Pool A still all to play for.

A strong opening quarter by Germany saw the London 2012 Champions play to a 20-14 lead against Canada; the 2014 World Champions, however, responded in stunning fashion in the second quarter – the Canadian team working their way ahead by 31-29 at half time.

Germany came out firing in the third: at the end of the 10 minutes it was now the German side who held a three point advantage: 45-42. A tense final quarter saw Germany really pressure their opponents at both ends of the court as they played their way to the top spot in Pool A with a 68-54 win.

Mareike Miller said: “It was a really good game: we had a lot of pressure on us because we lost yesterday and we knew it’s not only about winning, but about winning by a lot to make sure we get the first place in the pool which helps us in the quarter finals; so we came out really strong with a lot of good energy and really played well together.”

Cindy Ouellet said: “It was a tough game: we knew it was going to be hard – we didn’t play our best; Germany were just better than us at the end as the result shows.”

For full match statistics click here https://www.rio2016.com/en/paralympics/wheelchair-basketball-womens-group-a-preliminary-wb-13