Over the weekend, Australia claimed its second Wheelchair Rugby Championship when the team edged out the United States in a 58-55 victory. The last time the Aussies had won the title was in 2014 in Odense, Denmark.
The United States took second place in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics last summer when they lost to Great Britain in a close 54-49 battle, but were considered a favorite to win this year’s World Championship. Unfortunately, they came up short and have now gone three championships in a row without gold despite having won four out of five world championships from 1995-2010.
The first half of the game was a back and forth battle with the United States’ Chuck Aoki taking the early lead in the first quarter. Ryley Batt capitalized off of a Chris Bond interception to bring the Aussies within striking distance. The two teams headed off into the locker room tied at 31 for halftime.
While the Americans seemed to have the edge in the first half, the Aussies certainly took control in the second. With no considerable lead, the Steelers had to fight for every point on the way to victory and they did so with bravado.
Australian captain Chris Bond said in an interview following the game, “We were written off three months ago and now we are the best wheelchair rugby team in the world,” Australia’s captain Chris Bond said. “We never got a good lead but we just fought inch by inch. We held our nerve. We knew we just had to hold on, grit our teeth and keep pushing.”
The Aussies hosted the tournament in 2018, but vacated without making the podium. This year, the team fought tooth and nail to make sure the same thing didn’t happen. The team’s most-capped player Ryley Batt was named the most valuable player and was happy to add another trophy to the case.
“I’ve been a world champion before, but to be honest, this one feels more like a fairytale,” he said. “Losing on home soil in 2018 really hurt. It really, really hurt. But, to come back to win this world championship is a testament to our character.”
Coach Brad Dubberley agreed saying, “It’s been a hard slog for our whole team over the past couple of years,” he said. “To have built this team and be successful in a tournament like this when so many teams could have won it, it is absolutely huge.”
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