WHEELCHAIR basketball ace Clare Griffiths admitted falling out of love with the game she has played all her life after London 2012.

The veteran goes to her fifth Paralympics next month but, after disappointment four years ago, doubted if she would make another Games.

Griffiths, 36, played in her first Paralympics 16 years ago but now loves the game as much as she did all those years ago.

“I didn’t know I would go to another Paralympics, I wanted to enjoy playing basketball,” said Griffiths, who trains with her Great Britain team-mates at the University of Worcester Arena.

“I had lost the love for the sport, not just through the experience in London itself but a period of time in playing it.

“A lot of things changed after London, though, that brought back the enjoyment. We ended up at the world championships two years later coming fifth, a best result.

“We beat Australia in the process, who we’d never beaten before ever in wheelchair basketball, to take the fifth spot.”

Rio is expected to be the most competitive Paralympics ever and Griffiths said the improvement in quality means expectations must be managed.

“You have to go point-by-point, so the first is to make the quarter-finals,” she added.

“We have goals of where we want to finish in the group because then our next opponent is possibly more favourable but you don’t know what happens in the other groups anyway.

“To make a semi-final at a global competition is the next target for us and that would be a first for our team, then once you get yourselves into a semi-final a medal is reality.”

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