Australia’s wheelchair rugby team rue mistakes
“That sucks,” Batt said. “With 15 seconds to go, looking back, we probably shouldn’t have called that time out. I made a pretty silly mistake of coming in and getting the ball too low.
“[I] wish we could turn back time, but we can’t. It just fell out of my hand with the sweat.
“We controlled the clock unreal that whole game. We scored on every time stamp we wanted to.”
Steelers coach Brad Dubberley (right) hugs Australian player Ben Fawcett after the side’s loss to Japan. Credit: Drew Chislett
Australia will play their bronze medal match at 9.30pm AEST on Monday in the hope of winning a medal for the first time since the team’s gold in Rio 2016. The Steelers finished fourth in Tokyo four years ago.
Batt is confident the team can regroup.
“Sport can be cruel sometimes. I’m actually pretty proud of the team. We wanted that gold,” he said.
“Gold medals are amazing and it’s what we want to achieve, but at the end of the day, you have an amazing life outside of sport too. At times like this, when you get deflated, you’ve got to remember that life isn’t over. It’s not the end of the world. You’ve got a beautiful family, you’ve got an amazing community, friends, family and supporters around you who help you along the way. I’m not going to sit here and bash myself up.”
Meanwhile, boccia guns Dan Michel and Jamieson Leeson will make Paralympic history for Australia on Monday.
Paralympians Daniel Michel and Jamieson Leeson are representing Australia in boccia in Paris.Credit: Nikki Short
Both have progressed to individual finals, meaning both will either pick up gold or silver medals.
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No Australian boccia player – male or female – has won an individual Paralympic medal since the country first competed in the sport in 1988. Boccia, which resembles lawn bowls, is a sport for wheelchair athletes who have severe disabilities.
“I don’t think it’s quite sunk in yet to think that I’m going to be going home with a medal on the plane,” Leeson said.
“For two of us to be breaking that record this year is, you know, incredible. We’ve been working so hard over the past three years cycle.
Michel added: “[It’s a] pretty surreal [feeling] at the moment. It was a bit of an easier match than I thought. It’s what I was hoping to do coming here.”
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