The Australian Steelers will be fighting for a Paralympic bronze medal after suffering a crushing defeat in extra time in the wheelchair rugby semi-final against Japan.
The Steelers advanced to their second straight Paralympic bronze medal match with a 52-51 loss Sunday at the Arena Champ de Mars. He finished in 4th place in Tokyo.
“I don’t want to go home empty-handed,” said six-time Paralympian Riley Butt. “We want to bring something home. It was supposed to be gold, we were hoping for redemption after Tokyo. But unfortunately from now on we have to go for the bronze medal. No.
“It happened. I can’t change it now. I wish I could turn back time, but I can’t.”
With the score tied at 47-all with 15 seconds left in the fourth quarter, the Steelers called a strategic timeout to reset the shot clock and elected to make the game-winning play.
If they had completed the inbounds pass, they would have taken control of the game.
However, Japan’s Yukinobu Ike intercepted a pass from Australian captain Chris Bond in a timely fashion, sending the game into overtime.
When Yukinobu won his team the tip-off to resume play, Japan was demoralized by scoring first and not making a single mistake in overtime, locking Australia out of the competition.
“That’s the sport. It can be brutal sometimes. It definitely hurts,” Butt said.
“We were in control the whole game. It was a great game. Both teams played unreal. I’m really happy with our performance. Unfortunately, in the last two minutes, Bondi also conceded. I also made a big mistake that was very uncharacteristic of us.
“But I’m actually very proud of the team. That performance, in my eyes, against the favorites to win this tournament. We lost by one point in overtime, we had a chance to win with 15 seconds left. I’m very proud of this team.”
It was certainly not the way Australia captain Chris Bond would have wanted to commemorate his 250th international appearance.
“Right now we’re going to absorb this pain and give ourselves time to breathe and feel the pain, because we’re going to use it as motivation,” Bond said.
“We still have one game and we’re not going to do it half-heartedly. Let’s go together. We have a very strong team, so I said we want to mean something in the last three years. I did.”
Japan will face the winner of the semi-final match between the US and UK. The loser will face Australia in the bronze medal match on Monday at 9:30pm (AEST).
Stream the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games live for free on 9Network and 9Now and watch until September 8 on Stan Sport
Author: Tim Mannion, Australian Paralympics
Publication date: September 2, 2024
