Wheelchair basketball player Wendy Smith has booked a place in Great Britain's Paralympic Games squad - just two years after taking up the sport.

The talented sportswoman, who plays as a forward or guard for Colchester United, only got into the game by chance when a friend asked if she wanted a go.

Now she is Athens-bound and describes the trip as the undoubted highlight of her career.

The 32-year-old, of Tiptree, said: "It's the best moment of my sporting career.

"I feel an enormous amount of pride to represent my country in something.

"I can't actually put into words what that means to me."

Smith, who broke her back in a motorcycle accident when she was 18, went along to a basketball session at Maldon's Plume School in 2002 having seen her disabled friend, Paul Hardy, in a basketball wheelchair.

He asked her if she wanted to try the game and it took off from there.

She said: "I came down and had a go and I didn't look back."

Published Tuesday May 25, 2004

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