By Will Castle

Gregg Warburton is happy to embrace the role of villain when Great Britain take on Paralympic hosts France in a wheelchair basketball matchup that will guarantee thrills and spills.

Warburton is one of the standout players in the world and will look to add to his Paralympic medal collection in Paris, having already bagged two bronzes since making his debut at Rio 2016.

But with Paralympic finals having eluded him thus far, he is desperate to go that one step further and earn a shot at gold this summer.

On their path to the final, ParalympicsGB will have the privilege of facing the host nation in a hotly anticipated contest after being placed in the same pool.

Expecting a boisterous crowd to come out in full force at the Bercy Arena, the 27-year-old is ready to stifle the famous French atmosphere that lies in wait, unafraid of becoming public enemy number one on foreign soil.

“As soon as we saw France in our pool, I was so excited and we're all really excited for what that will bring,” he said.

“France is such a huge basketball nation, and they've got a really, really solid team as well, so they're going to provide a real challenge for us.

“That's what you dream of, playing in stadiums and arenas like this in front of crowds, especially if they're a little bit hostile. We sort of thrive under that.

“I feel like we've got other group games to take care of before that - definitely not looking past our first game against Germany, which is going to be really, really tough. They're a really good team and they're going to be a tough team for anybody at any stage of the tournament.

“That'll be a good one but a tough one to kick us off. I can't lie though, slightly thinking about playing in Paris against the French. That's going to be a marvellous occasion.”

Preparing for his third Paralympic Games, Warburton knows all about the buzz that surrounds para-sport’s greatest spectacle.

Competing at this stage is a childhood dream come true for the Leigh star, who became even more desperate to reach the pinnacle at the age of 15 when, along with seven other juniors, he came out bearing the IPC flag at the London 2012 opening ceremony.

Further lighting that fire within him, Warburton went on to make his Games debut just four years later and now goes into Paris as one of the sport’s marquee talents.

“That was sort of a glimpse into what life could be, I guess,” he added. “It was a long time ago now; I've seen a lot since then, but it was an amazing experience.

“It definitely lit the fire inside me to want to be at one of these Games for myself and fortunately, two cycles later, I'm lucky enough to go to my third Paralympics and hopefully play my part in the team performing to its best.”

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