Don’t want to come 4th again: Britain’s Carigill on Tokyo Paralympics

London, Aug 4 (IANS) British wheelchair basketball star Sophie Carigill said that she is hoping to help her team do better than the fourth place finish they managed at the 2016 Rio Paralympics. Carigill made her debut for Great Britain in 2013 and the debut came at the end of a long journey of rehabilitation after a car accident in the United States while she was 16 left her paralysed from waist down.

“I remember saying to my mum “I know I’m not going to walk again”. Because my internal injuries were causing me so much pain, breaking my back and the spinal cord seemed almost secondary,” she told BBC Sport.

“I stayed in hospital in the US for two months and started my rehab there. Things like getting dressed and moving from my bed into the chair were challenging, but I look back on those moments and I am so much stronger.

“After that, I went back home and to Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield, where I also got the most amazing care. It’s now 10 years since the accident and I’ve come out the other side much stronger, more powerful and more determined.”

At the start of 2016 a surgery for a ruptured bowel put her dream of representing her country at the Paralympics in doubt.

“I did everything I could to be in the best shape possible to be selected. When I made it, it was such a relief and made my Rio experience special because I thought I might not make it,” she said.

“Out of my bedroom window in the Paralympic Village, I could see the Park and that feeling was so special. As a child, sport had been a big part of my life and now to be representing my country on the biggest stage was magical.

“We reached the semi-finals for the first time but lost to the US, who went on to win gold, and were then beaten in the bronze medal match by the Netherlands. It was then full steam ahead for Tokyo before the Games were postponed until next year.

“I don’t want to come fourth again and it is definitely why I train and persevere now.”

–IANS

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