By David Gold

Nicolai Zeltinger_and_german_wheelchair_basketball_squad_in_israel_29-03-12March 29 - Germany's wheelchair basketball coach Nicolai Zeltinger (pictured centre) has named a pool of 20 players from which he will select his squad for this summer's Paralympic Games in London.


The 12 players who were the European runners-up in Nazareth, Israel, last year, are joined by eight others Zeltinger wants to run the rule over in the coming months.

With eight players over the age of 30 included in the men's squad, there is plenty of experience in the team.

The team will gather to train in April as Zeltinger weighs up his options ahead of the summer, before he makes his final decision on the 12 players travelling to London.

In London, Germany will face rivals Britain in the group stage, and hope for a better result than they have experienced in recent times against them.

Beaten by Britain in the European Championships final last year (pictured below, Germany in white), they were also knocked out by the Britons in Beijing at the last Paralympic Games at the quarter-final stage, and also lost the final of last year's Paralympic World Cup to the same opposition.

Dirk Passiwan_29-03-12
Germany also face Japan, Colombia, Poland and two times Paralympic champions Canada in the group stage at London 2012.

Among those selected are Andre Bienek and Dirk Passiwan (pictured), who both starred at last year's European Championships and were named in the all-star squad for that tournament.

Passiwan was the top scorer with 261 points and is sure to be a crucial member of the squad this summer, but Zeltinger insists all the 20 players picked have an equal chance to be picked for the Paralympic squad.

"We must consider not just the power of individual players, but the tactical alignment...what line-up we will need for the [Games]," he said.

"We are very open in approaching this question.

"All 20 players have the same opportunities, regardless of whether they were in Israel or not."

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