OREANDA-NEWS. August 13, 2014. Cecil Dumond’s Sasol SA Senior National Men’s Wheelchair Basketball Team may have gone down 73-64 in the final of four Test Matches in the Sasol All Star Series at Mandeville Sports Club, near Johannesburg, but the experience of the past week’s play is worth its weight in gold.

The visitors, on a mission to get at least one Test win from their 8 day tour of SA, got off to a flying start, and were 22-13 ahead after the first quarter, before holding a 34-28 lead at the halfway mark.

Any hopes the South Africans had of staging a late comeback en route to victory like they did in the first and second Tests, were blown away as the French amassed a 53 41 lead after the third quarter.

“The Sasol All Star Series gave our young Sasol AmaWheelaBoys players the perfect platform to play against European opposition, which is key towards preparing our players for future international competitions and most specifically next year’s Rio Paralympic African qualifiers to be held in Johannesburg,” said SA national team head coach Franck Belen.

“The more matches our team can play against European opposition the better. Wheelchair Basketball is a confidence game. We have learnt so much through the series against the French and there are plenty of positive learnings to build on.”

As far as the French are concerned, player/coach Mario Fahrasmane would have been the first to admit that re-entry into French airspace might have been that much more difficult if their team lost the Sasol All Star Series 4-nil.

“We may have got a good result against the South Africans tonight here at Mandeville, but we can see the positive impact that Franch Belen has had on the Sasol SA team since he took charge here after the 2012 London Paralympics,” said Fahrasmane.