Local Benny Roche played with the Australian Pararoos in the recent Asia-Oceania Championships in Melbourne, and has helped the squad qualify for the World Cup next year.
The tournament was played during the first weeks of November and Australia started with a draw against Thailand before losing to competition favourites Iran 3–1.
In the other round games they beat Japan 7–1 and India 11–0.
But in the final they came up against Iran again, and came up short losing 2–0.
‘It was a special experience playing my first tournament on home soil,’ Benny said. ‘Iran are world number three, and are definitely a challenge for us. We are slowly closing the gap. The average age of our squad is 20, so we have an exciting future.
‘But we did enough to qualify for the World Cup in Spain next year,’ he said.
The Pararoos are the national football team for athletes with cerebral palsy, acquired brain injury or symptoms acquired from stroke.
Benny also plays in fifth grade with the Byron Bay Football Club and has been involved with the Pararoos since 2005.
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