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Live coverage of the London 2012 Paralympics - Wednesday, September 5 - UPDATED 10.30pm

Paralympic wheelchair rugby champion Steve Brown, who has been named as one of the new Athlete Mentors for the nationwide Sky Sports Living for Sport programme
Paralympic wheelchair rugby champion Steve Brown, who has been named as one of the new Athlete Mentors for the nationwide Sky Sports Living for Sport programme

by Alex Hoad at the ExCeL Arena

10.30pm 25-13 it finishes for a straight sets defeat but GB can take enormous pride from that performance. Incredible.

10.19pm - Bulldog spirit in full view here. 11-8 to Iran and GB are not letting this go easily.

Theme from the Great Escape rings around the ExCeL for the first time.... it really would be if GB could pull one off!

10.05pm - Long way back for GB, Iran take the second set 25-13 and just are too big, too strong and too experienced for this plucky GB team.

9.58pm - The battle has continued in set two with GB giving as good as they're getting, but Iran have pulled away to lead 16-9 at the second technical timeout of the set.

Really, really entertaining match though. The best I've ever seen.

9.42pm - Iran take the first set 25-18 but GB have scared them witless with a superb, committed performance... far and away the best of the tournament so far from them!

Can they lift themself to push Iran again in the second set?

9.33pm - As expected Iran have come back to lead 16-12 but GB are battling for every point so hard and have the Iranians a little rattled. This is not what anyone expected.

9.25pm - GB have began superbly and led 8-6 at the first timeout of the set.

9.13pm - Amazing atmosphere in here. Genuinely can't describe how good. I'm failing you, I know. Just be assured it is goosebumpy!

The commentators are telling the crowd how Iran are the best team in the world ever and GB have no chance.

I expect this to be over inside 10 mins if half of what they say is true!

9pm - We've got a slight delay here as the previous game between Holland and China went to a fifth set.

Due off about 9.20pm now.

There is a large Iranian contingent in the hall which is making for a very good atmosphere.... they have flooded across from the powerlifting where they saw their national hero Siamand Rahman take gold in the over 100kg class.

8.45pm - Evening and welcome to ExCeL for the GB v Iran sitting volleyball quarter-final.

Since we last spoke GB won two more medals at Brands Hatch, Karen Darke claiming the silver and David Stone a bronze, to make it four GB medals on the opening day in Kent - an average of one every two hours which is just great! :)

I'm here to see if Netra Rana, Charlie Walker and Richard Dobell can push us closer to another one, though it is a huge task ahead, facing world No1 Iran who have a lot of support here.

4.55pm - More Kent Paralympians still to come today don't forget.

Natra Rana, Charlie Walker and Richard Dobell are in the GB side to face Iran in the quarter-final of the sitting volleyball at 9pm at ExCeL.

4.47pm - Brown remains confident GB can win their remaining two games and reach the knockout stages.

Click here to read his reaction.

Meanwhile back at Brands Hatch, former Formula 1 driver Alex Zanardi has taken gold for Italy.

Well worth searching to find out his incredible story from the pit lane to handcycling.

Incredible that it's he who takes gold at a circuit he once drove at.

3.46pm - Steve Brown says the experience of playing here infront of a packed house was 'amazing.'

He also said that they had played their hardest game and had plans in place to try and win their next two games.

Kylie Grimes also revealed the Americans treat her like any other player and hit her just as hard 'I wouldn't expect anything less' she said.

More reaction to come asap.

3.25pm - GB begin with a loss but can hold their heads up high after a full-blooded performance against the USA, who ran out 56-44 winners.

Steve Brown's reaction to come soon.

3.07pm - The gap has been extended to 41-32 at the end of the third.

The USA have been able to use their 'long pass straight from their own line to score' tactic sooo many times. GB are methodical and trying to play their way through, but they can't prevent the US from scoring through these hail-marys seconds later.

Phipps was sent to the penalty box for a massive hit which prevented a goal, but a tad illegally maybe, if I'm honest. Missed the last couple of minutes which was played out 3 v 4.

2.44pm - GB trail 28-23 at the end of the first half.

A few turnovers crept into their game after a pretty much perfect first quarter.

The crowd have enjoyed seeing Aaron Phipps' introduction from the GB bench however, he is a 3.5pt player, basically the least impaired.

He is by far the fastest player on the court and has scored half a dozen goals already.

Teams can only have players with combined points totals of up to eight on court at any one time so GB's other three players have to make-up 4.5 at most.

Brown is a two-pointer, just fyi.

I'm doing lvie commentary on twitter - @kentonline2012 - if you want to join in.

2.26pm - End of the first quarter and GB lead 13-11.

Brown is leading by example, he burst clear with 30 seconds on the clock but wisely held up, wasted some time, and then let his teammate score so the USA got the ball back with three seconds on the clock and couldn't score.

He told me a week or two back that this sport is like 'chess with violence.' I see it now.

Second quarter about to get going...

2.19pm - It's 12-11 to GB and Steve Brown has not only bagged a hat-trick but he's provided some amazing assists too, threading the needle with one 15m pass which sent a teammate through on one occasion.

88secs left of the opening quarter.

2.07pm - Absolute furious start and GB lead 7-6 inside four minutes. Brown with a couple.

This is fantastic.

2pm - We are off, and Brown cruises over the line to put GB ahead inside the opening seconds...

1.45pm - Only 15 minutes til we get going here.

I'll warn you, this couldn't be a harder start for GB. They are ranked sixth in the world while the USA are reigning champions and the perennial World No1.

GB also have two other group games, against France and Japan to try and secure their place in the semi-finals, with the top two in each group going through.

1.30pm - Ok I'm here at the Basketball Arena to see Steve Brown and GB face USA.

This place is buzzing already, I'm told it was the first event to sell out at these Games. Quicker than the athletics. I think that says it all.

This promises to be one of the most spectacular sports of the Games and the GB skipper is a proud Kent lad - doesn't get better than that for me.

Few little facts for you... the game is made up of two halves and four eight-minute quarters. Quick maths tells me it's going to last about an hour and a quarter, including stoppages.

Teams can hold onto the ball for up to 40secs and MUST advance the ball into their opponents half within 12 secs.

The aim is to get the ball into a teammates' hands and get them through the key area and over the line.

GB are one of just two players to include a woman in their squads for this mixed sport. Kylie Grimes plays with Steve Brown for the Medway Park Crusaders - a team which also includes GB players Andy Barrow and Bulbul Hussain.

I'm going to warn you. This is a brutal sport. It was originally named 'murderball' - it's not for the faint-hearted, you will see people smashing into each other and you will see people sent flying out of their wheelchairs, butthey love their sport and they want you to love it too. Don't worry.

12.50pm - IT'S RAINING GB MEDALS IN KENT.

Sarah Storey storms to victory in her C5 time trial to collect her third gold of the Games and finishes, get this, 94 seconds clear of the silver medallist.

In the previous race Mark Colbourne collected Britain's first medal in the Garden of England with silver in the C1 time-trial.

Still plenty more GB interest to come this afternoon too.

We're averaging a GB medal every 1.5hrs of racing here which is better than any other venue in London 2012.

We sure can throw a party in Kent, huh?

11.55pm - Unfortunately there was no medal for GB in the first race in Kent.

Butterworth finished 13th in the C5 time-trial, with the first gold medal in our county going to Yegor Dementyev of Ukraine with China's Xinyang Liu in second and Australia's Michael Gallagher claiming bronze.

Later Britain's David Stone, Sarah Storey and Rachel Morris aim to retain the titles they won in Beijing four years ago.

After winning two in the velodrome, Storey is going for her third gold of the Games and the 10th of her career.

She is due off around 12.10pm in the C5 time-trial.

8am - Good morning. I've been looking forward to today for a long time.

Today's the day that Kent gets to host our own of the London 2012 party as the road cycling begins at Brands Hatch.

Britain's Jon-Allan Butterworth will be the home favourite in the opening race, the men's individual C5 time-trial, which begins at 10.30am.

In all there are 18 gold medals up for grabs, with the final race of the day, the mixed T1-2 time-trial getting underway at 4.43pm.

We'll also see the first game involving the GB wheelchair rugby side, captained by Steve Brown from Sittingbourne, pictured.

GB will face the USA at the Basketball Arena at 2pm in their opening game, facing a hard task against the perennial World No1 and reigning Paralympic champions.

They will also take-on France and Japan in their group this week, looking to secure a place in the semi-finals on Saturday.

Another GB side facing a World No1 today will be the GB sitting volleyball men, who take on Iran in their historic quarter-final.

The team includes Folkestone-based Gurkha Netra Rana, Dover-born former Army bomb disposal expert Charlie Walker and Beckenham's Richard Dobell.

Whatever happens though, it won't be the end of their Games today, they will be back at ExCeL tomorrow, either for the semis or the start of the 5th-8th classification competition.

Alex Hoad at the Games - Twitter button
Alex Hoad at the Games - Twitter button
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