By Sportsmail Reporter
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Great Britain crashed out of wheelchair rugby medal contention after a lacklustre display against Japan at the Basketball Arena.
Victory would have sent the host nation into a mouthwatering semi-final clash against unbeaten Australia, with another capacity 10,000 crowd guaranteed.
But Steve Brown's team were punished for a sub-standard second quarter performance that saw them outscored 13-4, which underpinned Japan's success.
No way out: Aaron Phipps (centre) defends the ball from Daisuke Ikezaki (right) and his Japan team-mates
Britain, fourth at the Beijing Paralympics in 2008, had high hopes of a medal in London with ambitions that they could mix it with Australia and current world No 1 team the United States.
Their only victory in Pool A, though, came against France on Thursday night, and Japan will now meet Australia with the United States tackling Canada, who scraped through following a 53-52 Pool B triumph against Sweden.
Britain shaded the opening quarter 14-13 after Aaron Phipps and David Anthony scored all their goals between them, but there were some early second-quarter alarms when Japan opened a five-point lead.
Rough stuff: Steve Brown of Britain (left) goes to intercept Daisuke Ikezaki of Japan
Determined: David Anthony (left) gets past Shin Nakazato (No 11) in the Basketball Arena
Mistakes started to creep in as Japan dominated possession, and Britain required the presence of their solitary female player Kylie Grimes to reshape their tactical approach.
Britain, though, continued to be guilty of conceding way too much turnover possession, and Japan took the quarter by a landslide scoreline, giving their opponents a mountain to climb.
There was no way back, with Japan retaining control on the back of a comfortable lead and sending Britain into minor classification games tomorrow and Sunday as the crowd began leaving long before the end.
Great Britain coach Tom O'Connor did not pull any punches as Japan celebrated their victory.
No holding back: David Anthony is challenged by Daisuke Ikezaki
Two British players - Phipps and Myles Pearson - passed through the media mixed zone in tears after what was a crushing defeat.
O'Connor said: 'It was all about trying to win a medal here, and we failed.
'We've got a lot of good exciting young players, but we just need to go back to the drawing board and look at the coaching side of things.
'We've got to lift the players now. We are looking to finish as high as we can, but the medal we were looking for is not there.
'When you get good funding from the Lottery and UK Sport, it's a horrible feeling when the medal is no longer attainable.
'It got away from us in that second quarter. We lacked consistency in all areas.'
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