Wheelchair rugby ace remains optimistic for future despite setback

Myles Pearson is a Paralympian and European champion at wheelchair rugby

GB finished fourth in the four-team tournament at Leicester Arena last weekend.

They lost out in the bronze medal match, 44-41 to Japan, after starting the competition with a 50-47 win over eventual winners USA, who beat Australia in the gold medal match.

Despite missing out on a medal, Pearson believes GB showed they belong at the top level.

He said: “Obviously we were disappointed to miss out because we wanted to win it.

“But on the other hand, we’re a young side who have proven to ourselves that we’re a young side who aren’t too far off.

“We beat USA on Friday and they went on to win the tournament, so we’ve shown we’re right up there with the very best.

“We just need to add a bit of consistency to our game and that will come with maturity.

“It was an incredible experience though. It was great to see so many people come out to cheer us on.”

The 24-year-old was disappointed with his lack of game time, having only featured against Japan.

But Pearson, who was part of the GB squad that took home gold at the European Championships last year, says his main focus is on appearing in August’s World Championships in Sydney, Australia.

“I didn’t get many minutes which, from a personal point of view, was a bit disappointing,” he added.

“It’s a big step up from club level to international level so it takes some getting used to. But I now want to push on.

“The coaches look at me as one of the more experienced players so for me, it’s a case of biding my time.

“But my main focus now is looking ahead to the World Championships later this year; a tournament I’m really looking forward to.

“It’s a massive competition, it’s basically our World Cup. Only the Paralympics are bigger. But we’re not going to the Worlds looking to win bronze, we’re going there to win and that’s certainly not out of our reach.”