Paralympic defending champs the Wheel Blacks have lost a tight opening game of the wheelchair rugby in Beijing.

They were beaten by Great Britain, one of their main rivals for the title, 39-38 in a tight game.

The score was 9-9 after first quarter and then 16-16 at the first half break. By the time the game had reached the end of the third quarter Britain had moved to a one goal lead, 26-25, but the Wheel Blacks refused to give up.

British No.6 Ross Morrison, arguably the fastest on the court and the most aggressive player in the first two quarters was not put back on court, however the British always seemed to respond to any Kiwi attack and were kings of the long ball and fast-break compared to the close marking and attack of the Wheel Blacks.

With 3.8 seconds remaining Britain succeeded in scoring a long-rang goal to seal the match.

The Wheel Blacks now need to win the rest of their matches or say goodbye to gold.

Top scorer for the Wheel Blacks was captain, Dan Buckingham with 16 goals followed by Tim Johnson on 10.

For Britain Troye Collins finished with 17

Wheel Blacks captain Dan Buckingham was frustrated with the result and his own performance "I had a chance to take us to over time and I blew it. We stole the ball off their inbound with 30 seconds on the clock, and instead of pulling out and scoring last, which would have meant tied scores and 3 mins of overtime, I saw the open goal and scored quick.

"This gave Great Britain the opportunity to score last and win the game.... an opportunity they nailed." Buckingham told tvnz.co.nz 

New Zealand will next face Australia on Saturday night (10pm NZ time).

Australia won their first match 47-36 over Germany.

Read blogs by Wheel Blacks' Dan Buckingham and Curtis Palmer.