City wheelchair basketball ace, and Peterborough United fan, Manning targeting more European glory

Manning is in the Great Britain men’s squad for the IWBF European Championships that tip-off in Bosnia and Herzegovina today (Friday) and run for eight days.

The former Jack Hunt Secondary School pupil has been a mainstay of the GB team for many years now, and was part of the team that went through the 2023 European Championships unbeaten on their way to the title. This will be his sixth appearance for GB at the European finals.

Manning started playing wheelchair basketball in 2005, and earned a first GB call for the Juniors, representing his country at the 2006 Under-22 European Championships.

He made the senior team for the 2014 World Championships and was a key points scorer in GB’s historic World Championship win of 2018 Manning also represented Team England as they won bronze at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

On his latest GB selection, Manning said: “It’s always an honour, it doesn’t matter if it’s your first time or your sixth, it’s always an honour to represent your country and I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve been in the squad a long while now, I’ve experienced a lot of different things with highs and lows within that.

“Winning championships, losing on buzzer beaters, losing a Paralympic final by a couple of points, but I’ve also had the achievement of getting to a first Paralympic final for the first time in a long time for the British Paralympic team.

“We’re a very tight knit group, and this is one of the best teams I’ve been part of. We’ve been building on culture to turn it into a brotherhood, and now I can’t wait to get onto that court with all 11 players. It’s going to be a special feeling.”

Peterborough United fan Manning also spoke of his pride at representing his home city Peterborough on the international stage.

“This summer I had the opportunity to go back and live in Peterborough for the first time in quite a long time and to reconnect with the city was special,” he said.

“I’m a big Posh fan. We’re not having the greatest start to the season. but to be back in Peterborough and to go back to my old school as well (Jack Hunt) where it all started for me from a trial session with Gordon Perry, was a special feeling.

“I hope that I do the city proud. We’ve got a good, rich history of sporting excellence within Peterborough and it’s nice to be part of that.”

GB open their campaign against Israel on Friday (7pm) before tackling Italy on Saturday, France on Sunday, Switzerland on Monday and the Netherlands on Tuesday. all in group matches. The quarter-finals are scheduled for Thursday with the semi-finals on Friday and the final on Saturday.

Coverage of the competition, including livestreams, fixtures and results, can be found via the British Wheelchair Basketball website.