The Starting Blocks

BEIJING, China –Four years ago, the U.S. Wheelchair Rugby Team didn’t win gold at the Paralympic Games for the first time ever.  On Friday, the team began its journey back to the top of the medal podium with a dominating, 65-30, victory over China.

 “We’ve been chomping at the bit to take the court and it felt great out there,” said Will Groulx (Portland, Ore.).  “We set some goals for ourselves and did a nice job working on the parts of our game that we felt needed some improvement.”

 The Americans owned every aspect of the game, scoring at will and forcing China to commit 33 turnovers.  Conversely, the U.S. only committed one turnover the entire game.  Team USA was led by Groulx with 16 goals, Chance Sumner (Denver, Colo.) with 12 goals and Mark Zupan (Austin, Texas) with 11 goals.

 “This is my first Paralympic Games and finally getting on the court and playing in a game was just awesome,” said Sumner.  “The crowd was great, there was a lot of energy out there and we can’t wait to take the next step on Saturday against Japan.”

 The U.S. continues pool play against Japan on Saturday, Sept. 13, at 3:00 p.m. at the Beijing Science & Technology University Gymnasium.