USA Wheelchair Rugby Wins First Match in Tokyo

The USA Wheelchair Rugby team topped New Zealand 63-35 in their first match of the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo.

The Americans entered the game with three of their top four scorers from 2016 —Aoki, Josh Wheeler and Kory Puderbaugh — but it was Joe Delagrave, making his first Paralympic team since London, who scored the first try in Tokyo. 

The second try was scored by Aoki and by the

middle of the second quarter, the U.S. had a 10-point lead that just kept getting larger as the minutes ticked away. 

Up 29-17 with New Zealand out of player timeouts by the half, when the final buzzer sounded the score was 63-35. The U.S. was one step closer to besting their silver medal from Rio.

Team USA is in Group B, which also includes Great Britain and Canada, who they will play next.

“We play five days in a row, which is kind of crazy for sports, right?” Delagrave said about their hectic playing schedule. “So we have this mentality of no days off, every day matters.”