Off the wire
• China's Jia sets 100m backstroke S6 world record in Rio  • Cort Nielson sprints to victory in Vuelta stage 18  • Urgent: U.S. launches first mission to collect asteroid samples  • Brazil's Supreme Court denies Rousseff request for Temer to remain as interim president  • Argentine, Brazilian industrialists stress tie with China  • Ford recalls 1.5 million vehicles due to door problems  • UN chief welcomes peacekeeping pledges on rapid deployment  • Female model enters record books for 15-cm-long beard  • Three women planning "imminent" attacks arrested in France: minister  • Mexican children paint their vision of China in new exhibition  
You are here: 　 Home

Wayne Rooney sends good luck message to Britain's Paralympic squad

Xinhua, September 9, 2016 Adjust font size:

England captain Wayne Rooney has sent a good luck message to Britain's Paralympic Games squad in Rio.

The football 7-a-side competition carries special importance to Rooney, who is a friend of Britain forward Michael Barker.

"I'd like to wish him and the rest of the Paralympics Britain team good luck out in Rio," Rooney said, as quoted by the Paralympic News Service.

"Just like the rest of the squad, Michael's story is inspirational."

Rooney and Barker were teammates at Everton when a 14-year-old Barker was hit by a bus. The incident left him with a fractured skull, a compound fracture to his leg and crushed foot and heel.

After a long recovery, Barker decided to return to football through Everton's PAN Disability program.

Now 29, Barker is a three-time Paralympian and his career highlights include the golden boot award at the 2011 World Championships in the Netherlands.

"After such a traumatic accident, it's amazing to see that he managed to rebuild his life and go on to represent his country at what will be his third Paralympics," Rooney said.

Barker had nothing but praise for Rooney, who has become England's most capped outfield player with 116 matches and the country's all-time leading scorer with 53 goals.

"Anyone would be proud to have his career," Barker said. "He has done everything and he is still doing so now. He has made a career to become one of the best players England ever had."

Barker said he always knew Rooney would be a future star.

"Obviously he was going to be a child prodigy," he said. "After doing thousand of laps he would come and play with us and he was still amazing.

"It was a step up to play with him. He was like a grown man already when we were quite small so he was very strong and fast and he had an amazing shot."

Barker is one of three players in Britain's squad to have had able-bodied football careers before their journeys to football 7-a-side.

Sean Highdale represented Liverpool and won the FA Youth Cup in 2007 before being injured in a car crash in which two of his friends died.

And Jack Rutter was a Birmingham City youth player when he suffered brain injuries after being attacked outside a nightclub.

Britain started their Rio 2016 Paralympic Games campaign with a 2-1 loss to Brazil at Deodoro Stadium on Thursday. Endit