London heartbreak leaves Rollers hungry for Rio success

ROLLERS captain Brad Ness says he will do everything in his power to avoid the heartbreak the Australian men’s basketball team suffered in London.

Brad Ness will lead the Rollers in Rio.

BRAD Ness can’t be certain if the feeling in his guts is pain, hunger or disappointment — he just knows he wants it gone.

“Every time I hear the word ‘London’, for whatever reason, it takes me back to that final and it burns,” Australia’s skipper of the Rio-bound Rollers basketball team says.

“I hate the feeling it stirs inside of me, but it has given me motivation to come back and make amends for what happened.

“I’m going to make sure I do everything I can to never have to feel that feeling again.

“If that’s hunger, then I’m starving.”

Ness was named captain of the Rollers, embarking on his fifth Paralympics campaign and leading a team aiming to erase the memories of the London Games four years ago.

Brad Ness will lead the Rollers in Rio. Picture: Richard Hatherly

At that meeting, the Aussies entered as defending Paralympics and world champions, but suffered a 64-58 defeat to Canada in the gold medal match.

The Rollers won some redemption two years later, winning the 2014 world title — but Ness said that honour counted for little under the heat of Paralympics competition.

“Once we get to Rio, being back-to-back world champions means nothing,” he said.

“Everyone wants a piece of the Rollers, so we will have to be at our ultimate best.

“We know our best is enough to win gold but each year the bar gets raised.”

Ness fronts a unit including six Paralympics debutants — Josh Allison, Adam Deans, Matt McShane, Tom O’Neill-Thorne and Shawn Russell.

Tristan Knowles will compete at his fourth Games.

Tristan Knowles and Shaun Norris, selected for their fourth Games, along with Brett Stibners and Tige Simmons joined Ness as in the Rollers side that won Paralympic gold in Beijing in 2008.

Australia has won two silver and two gold at the past five Paralympic Games, having missed a medal in Sydney in 2000.

Only the Aussies and Canada have held gold since Australia’s breakthrough victory in Atlanta in 1996.

The Rollers will headline Group A against Canada, Spain, Turkey, Japan and the Netherlands. Wheelchair basketball runs for 10 days, from September 8 until the men’s final on September 17.

The Australian women’s wheelchair basketball team, the Gliders, failed to qualify for the Rio Games.

ROLLERS 2016 PARALYMPICS SQUAD

Brad Ness (WA)

Tristan Knowles (VIC)

Shaun Norris (WA)

Tige Simmons (QLD)

Brett Stibners (NSW)

Jannik Blair (VIC)

Bill Latham (NSW)

Josh Allison (VIC)

Adam Deans (WA)

Matthew McShane (QLD)

Tom O’Neill-Thorne (NT)

Shawn Russell (NSW)

Originally published as London heartbreak leaves Rollers hungry for Rio success