‘We came for gold and we got it’ – Commonwealth Games glory for Portsmouth wheelchair basketballer Jade Atkin

The women’s wheelchair side grabbed 3x3 glory just moments before the men’s team dramatically defended their title against Australia.

Portsmouth ace Atkin’s outfit cruised past Scotland 18-10 to triumph after also beating Canada earlier in the day.

While the men’s team were forced to do things the hard way to secure double English gold, holding off a late Australian rally to edge over the line 19-17.

Atkin, 24, loved being a part of it all and paid tribute to her teammates across the women’s wheelchair side and beyond.

“We came in and said to ourselves: ‘we are not going to lose today’, and we didn’t,” she said.

“We came for gold, and we got it – so here we are.

“We all back each other and give each other so much confidence, which is such a good thing to have.

“It’s a great night for English and British basketball – being part of 3x3 is really good because it shows wheelchair basketball alongside able-bodied basketball.

“It brings in a new fanbase and is really important to me – when I was a little girl I didn’t know what wheelchair basketball was, so it’s amazing to spread that awareness and get more people into the sport.”

Atkin and her teammates are four of 251 Team England athletes here in Glasgow, all of whom benefit from crucial National Lottery funding.

While the women’s wheelchair and men’s teams claimed gold, the men’s wheelchair outfit were unable to make it a memorable hat-trick with a disappointing defeat in the final against Australia.

But it was still an evening to savour at Glasgow’s SEC as Atkin’s team upgraded their bronze from Birmingham 2022 to a glorious gold.

Teammate Lucy Robinson, 27, added: “It feels insane.

“Our chemistry as a four is next level – we’ve known each other for so long so to win together is a great feeling.

“We’re really confident in each other’s decisions – everything we do we trust, and we had no doubt in each other’s decisions.

“It’s our belief which has carried us all the way through to the final.

“It’s a wicked night for English basketball.

“I love being around all the other athletes – I’m not used to it but it’s really cool.”

Atkin, meanwhile, began playing wheelchair basketball for fun with her sister Adele before being diagnosed with Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia. Both sisters went on to compete at international level.

Jade was part of squads to win gold and bronze at Under-24 European and Under-25 World Junior Championships. She also won silver in her senior GB bow at the 2021 European Championships.

Speaking in 2022, she said: ‘My sister used to play and at that time I didn’t have a disability, so I started playing with her because I wanted to just play with her.

‘And then once I got into it, I realised it was really fun and I got really competitive at it and I eventually I found out that I was disabled and so got classified.’

Thanks to National Lottery players, more than £33m is raised every week for good causes. It’s because of you that sport, arts, heritage and community projects, as well as our athletes competing at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, are supported across the UK.