By Mike Burnett

The world is our oyster basically and I think a lot of teams are going to fear us Troye Collins

Great Britain's wheelchair rugby team head to Athens in search of their first Paralympic medal.

Their bid for glory may rest on the talents of Troye Collins, one of the best players in the world.

But Collins is keen to play down his own importance, telling BBC Sport: "I'm pretty shy about saying things like that, but I'm a pretty good performer.

"I've got a good team around me - the low-pointers actually contribute a lot on court and often make you look good."

Wheelchair rugby is making its third appearance at the Games, having featured as a demonstration event at Atlanta 1996 before making its full medal debut at Sydney four years ago.

Britain finished fourth in Atlanta and had to settle for a disappointing sixth in Sydney.

But Collins, taking part in his second Paralympics, believes it is time to end their medal drought.

"My dream has always been to go to the Olympics and when I got selected to go to Sydney 2000 that was a dream come true," the 32-year-old told BBC Sport.

"Now, hopefully, we can go to Athens and win a medal.

TROYE COLLINS FACTFILE Born: 24 August 1972 Lives: London Occupation: Full-time athlete Club: London WRC Category: 2.5

"The team we've got at the moment is awesome and we're playing so well as a unit.

"The world is our oyster basically and I think a lot of teams are going to fear us."

The British team has plenty to feel confident about after winning last year's European Championships.

Collins earned hero status by scoring in the dying seconds of the final to help Britain beat home side Belgium 32-31 and was named best player in the 2.5 class at the tournament.

Not bad for a man who only took up the sport after a chance encounter in a pub.

The London-based athlete grew up playing able-bodied rugby in South Africa, but sustained a life-changing injury during a game in 1992.

"I broke my neck playing rugby and didn't think I could do any sport basically," he said.

"It was only when I moved over to the UK from South Africa that someone mentioned to me in a pub one night that he had a friend who played wheelchair rugby.

"I thought he'd had one too many drinks because I'd never heard of it before.

"But I rang my friend the next day and we went down. I tried it out and I knew I was hooked.

"It was the perfect stepping stone in my life and career and I've never looked back since."