Wheelchair basketballer Phil Pratt was bursting with pride as Great Britain ended 28 years of hurt at the Paralympics.

After six successive semi-final defeats stretching back to Sydney 2000, Britain beat Germany 71-43 in Paris to make the gold medal game for the first time since 1996.

Playmaker Pratt captained the side, laying on 14 assists in the seminal success.

“Winning a semi-final of the Paralympics against a world-class team like Germany is unbelievable,” said Pratt, who is part of Aldi’s Nearest and Dearest programme in partnership with ParalympicsGB, helping to maximise support and minimise potential distractions for athletes so that they can focus on their performance.  

“At times like that, I’m looking at the scoreboard thinking, ‘is this actually happening?’ It was unreal. I’m so proud of our guys.”

GB beat Germany by 21 points in the group stage, romping to a 76-55 victory.

They dominated Group A, swatting aside Canada and hosts France by 30 and 35-point margins respectively, with Australia dispatched 84-64 in the quarterfinals.

GB were heavy favourites for the semi-final, but first half was nip and tuck as they opened up a slender 28-24 lead at the midway point.

ParalympicsGB pulled away in the third quarter, outscoring Germany 20 points to eight, with a cameo off the bench from Peter Cusack making all of the difference.

Gregg Warburton was the star man, pouring in 35 points, with the team congratulated on their victory by the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.

“Their game plan was to let him shoot and I wouldn’t do that personally,” said Pratt.

“No disrespect to it, we’ve got some unbelievable players and you’re going to have to give up something and if you’re giving up Gregg, he’s going to score 35 points.”

Coached by Canadian brothers Bill and Joey Johnson, GB have stepped up a gear since losing to the USA in the 2022 World Championship final by a single point.

“The culture of this team has changed a lot,” said Pratt. “The faith we’ve got in our young guys, the bench, the depth, I love where our team is at.

“In the past we didn’t really have a plan B or plan C but this time we’ve thought about every single outcome and Billy and Joey have so much knowledge and experience.

“Everyone gets on, we say a band of brothers but genuinely, it’s like a family. We are a very close tight-knit group.”

Team USA are looming large for GB and skipper Pratt would love nothing better than to prevent them from winning a third gold medal in a row.

"Some of my idols are in the US team and they're the most successful team in history," said the Welshman.

"They’re looking to three-peat, no team has ever done it and we’ll be hoping to stop them from doing that."

Aldi are proud Official Partners of Team GB & ParalympicsGB, supporting all athletes through to Paris 2024.