As current reigning U25 World Champions, today the GB camp announced the twelve talented athletes who will head to Thailand to defend the title.

The wheelchair basketball world’s attention will be firmly focused on the GB team as a serious contender for the 2019 U25 World Championship crown. The squad’s notable international success includes back-to-back U24 European Championship titles (2016 & 2018) and the 2015 U25 World Championship title.

The impressive roster boasts some big names of the sport with GB’s Joy Haizelden leading the squad as Captain, London 2012 Paralympian Maddie Thompson as Vice-Captain, and GB Senior Programme athletes Kayla Bell, Siobhan Fitzpatrick and Charlotte Moore. Each bring a wealth of international competition experience to the squad, including their historic 2018 Senior World Championships Silver Medal.

Making their debut international GB appearances at the U25 Worlds are the South East’s Bethany Wheeler and North East’s Brooke Mottram. Both deliver a broad depth of experience within wheelchair basketball with Beth having just returned from representing her British Wheelchair Basketball National League domestic club, London Titans, in Spain at the EuroLeague 3 Finals; and Brooke who is currently studying for a Diploma in Sporting Excellence (DISE) in wheelchair basketball.

The squad is completed with sisters Jade and Adele Atkin, Niamh Horan, Lucy Robinson and Freya Levy, each of whom have represented GB during their successful campaigns at either the 2016 or 2018 European Championships.

Reflecting on the road ahead, GB Women’s Junior Head Coach Dan Price commented:

“Undoubtedly we have an excellent roster and as a squad we are in a really good place for the U25 World Championships. However, we are not complacent about the quality of competition that awaits – we are aware that as current Champions teams will be looking for early wins against GB and that we will need to bring our A game from the moment we hit the courts in Thailand.

 “We are prepared and ready to defend our hard earned title.”

Echoing the words of the Head Coach, British Wheelchair Basketball Performance Director, Jayne Ellis added:

“We are extremely proud of all the players that took part in the selection process and huge congratulations to our World Championship team, their commitment and dedication to their ongoing development as players has been world class. We are indebted to those hard working families, coaches and clubs volunteers that give their evenings and weekends to support these young players on their journey. Our domestic Women’s League and Lord’s Taverners Junior League provide excellent opportunities for our young players to develop in competitive environments, appropriate to their age and stage of development and as performance programme, we are excited about the future talent coming through.”