Wheelchair Basketball World Championships: Phil Pratt returns to GB squad, Robyn Love retires
- Published
Robyn Love (left) captained Scotland in last year's Commonwealth Games wheelchair basketball tournament
Phil Pratt has returned to the Great Britain men's squad for next month's Wheelchair Basketball World Championships.
The 29-year-old opted out of consideration for the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021, having been part of the GB team that won bronze in Rio in 2016.
Meanwhile, Robyn Love is not part of the GB women's team after announcing her retirement from internationals.
The tournament in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, runs from 9-20 June.
Love featured at the Rio and Tokyo Paralympics and helped Britain to silver medals at the 2018 World Championships and European Championships in 2019 and 2021, captaining the side at the last of those tournaments.
Recently, Love and her partner, Great Britain team-mate Laurie Williams, became parents to baby Alba.
She said: "I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I have had to represent Great Britain, something that I never thought possible.
"Growing up with a disability, I never knew I could play sport at the highest level. When I saw it during the London 2012 Paralympics, I knew that that was what I was meant to do. Four years later, I was doing it."
Love will continue to play domestically for Loughborough Lightning, as well as developing her coaching skills.
Great Britain's men are the defending world champions, having won the title in 2018 in Germany.
Terry Bywater is part of the British squad for a sixth consecutive World Championships, while Gregg Warburton, the most valuable player five years ago, is also included.
Gaz Choudhry, who was player-coach when GB won bronze at the Tokyo Paralympics, is not part of the squad and has recently been pursuing an acting career, appearing in Apple TV drama Extrapolations.
GB's men are in the same group as the United States, Iran and Iraq while the women will play Brazil, Canada, China, Australia and Spain.
The World Championships are part of the qualification process for next year's Paralympics, with the top four countries earning a spot for their zones in Paris.
If a European country is among the top four, it would mean the winners of August's European Championships in Rotterdam would qualify for the Paralympics.
GB men's squad
Simon Brown, Kyle Marsh, Terry Bywater, Harry Brown, Phil Pratt, Gregg Warburton, Martin Edwards, Lee Manning, Ben Fox, Jim Palmer, James MacSorley, Lee Fryer
GB women's squad
Charlotte Moore, Sophie Carrigill, Kayla Bell, Helen Freeman, Jude Hamer, Maddie Thompson, Lucy Robinson, Siobhan Fitzpatrick, Joy Haizelden, Jade Atkin, Maddie Martin, Ellan Fraser
Was one of the world's tallest statues haunted? The story of the World Peace Giant Kannon statue and its impact on local residents
Critically acclaimed documentaries: Check out the compelling and emotional real-life stories on BBC iPlayer now
