Spain secure Rio 2016 Paralympics berth by earning fifth place at European Wheelchair Basketball Championships

Spain secured the final Rio 2016 qualification berth on offer in the men's competition at the European Wheelchair Basketball Championships after cruising to victory over Italy in the fifth place classification match at the University of Worcester.

Both teams began the most eagerly anticipated match of the penultimate day of the Championships desperate to secure a victory which would see them join the already qualified Germany, Turkey, The Netherlands and hosts Britain at next year's Paralympics.

The Spanish team appeared to deal with the pressure better than their Italian opponents and Jordi Ruiz proved to be one of their top performers early on as he scored 20 points to help his team to a 41-22 half-time lead.

The gap would continue to increase throughout the remaining two quarters and Spain ended with a comfortable 86-55 win which sealed their place at Rio 2016.

In the other classification matches to take place, Poland were able to overcome Israel 69-55 to claim a seventh place finish while France, who finished Group A with one win and four defeats, battled to a 60-50 victory over the Czech Republic.

Meanwhile the bottom two teams in Group B also were aiming to end their tournaments with success, with Switzerland aiming to record their first victory of the tournament.

Spain earned the final Rio 2016 men's qualifying berth at the European Championships ©Twitter

Despite putting in an improved display the Swiss team were unable to get off the mark as Sweden eventually prevailed 76-50.

In the only women's classification match to take place Spain’s women ended their campaign on a high after recording a stylish 68-15 victory over Italy to secure a fifth placed finish.

The Spanish side began brightly and moved into a 20-2 lead by the end of the first period, but the scoring slowed down somewhat as the match approached half-time with the score at the break being 28-9.

However with María Victoria Alonso scoring freely, Spain were able to regain the momentum and stretched their advantage in the final two periods, to end the match with a decisive winning margin.