Wheelchair basketball: Great Britain women target Euro final

Great Britain women's wheelchair basketball team feel they are ready to make their first major final at the European Championships in Tenerife.

They have won nine European bronze medals but have never played in a world, Paralympic or European final.

Co-captain Sophie Carrigill said: "It's definitely about time we changed that."

The GB men will defend a title they have won three times in a row and begin against Sweden on 22 June, with the women playing Germany on the same day.

The British women started a centralised training programme after the London 2012 Paralympics.

They have since gone on to record their best ever World Championships finish of fifth, followed by their best Paralympics placing of fourth at Rio last summer.

In the Canary Islands, they will attempt to break the dominance of Germany and Netherlands, who are perennial European finalists.

"We're ready to compete in that final and compete for that gold medal," said Carrigill.

"We proved to the world that we're a really strong team and missing out on that medal in Rio just makes you more hungry for the next one," said Carrigill.

"For the last few years we've been centralised at the University of Worcester and being able to train with your team every day is going to help you perform better and build relationships.

"We're excited for the Europeans. We've had a run of bronzes but we've been training really hard and making that final is what the GB programme deserves."

The British men's team go to Spain having won Paralympic bronze at Rio 2016, as well as the past three European titles.

"We're going to go there to win it, of course, but there's another five or six teams who will be thinking the same," said five-time Paralympian Terry Bywater.

"We've been at the top of the sport for the past 15 or 20 years, so there's always some pressure on us to win a medal.

"We're all passionate about what we do so it's just about keeping that level of consistency about us."