Britain begin Paralympic wheelchair rugby title defence with win

Aaron Phipps scored 25 tries as Great Britain started the defence of their Paralympics wheelchair rugby title with a statement 58-55 opening victory over world champions Australia on Thursday in Paris.

Phipps was a crucial part of the Tokyo Paralympics success and made crucial contributions at the end of the first and second quarters as Britain started their Group B campaign in the sport nicknamed "murderball" strongly.

The 41-year-old opened the scoring 15 seconds after the tip-off at the Champs de Mars arena, a venue in the shadows of the Eiffel Tower and which will also host para judo.

Britain led 14-13 at the end of the opening eight-minute quarter and held on to a one-point advantage with a 28-27 score at halftime, Phipps claiming two crucial tries with seconds to go on two occasions.

With one quarter to play, they were 43-40 up after Phipps had scored his 21st try.

Only Australia's Ryley Batt, a two-time Paralympic champion, claimed more tries in the game before the final eight minutes of play.

Phipps, who became the first disabled British man to scale Mount Kilimanjaro in 2016, then helped close out the win for Britain with his final try of the game with less than 30 seconds left.

Three-time former champions the USA start their Paralympics gold medal gold bid by facing Canada later on Thursday.