The boccia team celebrate their gold medal success

Britain won their first ever boccia team gold medal after defeating defending champions Portugal 8-4.

The quartet of Nigel Murray, who won silver in the individual event, Dan Bentley, David Smith and Zoe Robinson proved to be too strong.

"GB are the best team in the world and finally we have shown we really are number one," said Smith.

Quad wheelchair tennis champion Peter Norfolk is guaranteed a medal after a semi-final win over Nick Taylor.

Norfolk - nicknamed the "Quadfather" - beat his American opponent 6-0 6-3 and will now play fourth seed Johnas Andersson in the final on Sunday.

BBC PARALYMPICS BLOG Boccia may lack the physicality of other sports, but the skills and passion I saw on Friday assured me the sport fully deserves its place Elizabeth Hudson

�My pre-Beijing preparation is the best I've had for a long time and I'm in the best form I've been in for a long time," said the second seed.

Murray had lost 5-3 to Hong Kong's Karen Hoi Ying Kwok in the individual boccia final on Tuesday, but the 44-year-old - who won gold in Sydney - said the team victory was his undoubted career highlight.

"This far supersedes anything I did in 2000," he said. "We played top form today and we're a match for anybody."

Britain's women's wheelchair basketball team let a half-time 20-14 lead slip against Japan, going down to a 45-38 defeat by Japan in the quarter-finals.

Troy Collins kept his cool in the wheelchair rugby, to grab the vital score with three seconds remaining to help Britain beat reigning champs New Zealand 39-38.

John Cavanagh advanced into the semi-finals of the men's individual compound W1 archery with a 106-104 win over South Korea's Seong-Pyo An.

BBC PARALYMPICS BLOG They haven't yet reached the knock-out stages but GB's basketball men have already taken us on an emotional rollercoaster ride Ade Adepitan

Team-mate John Stubbs also moved into the last four after beating Canada's on pre-competition favourite Kevin Evans 111-110 in the individual compound open quarter-finals.

GB's CP seven-a-side footballers picked up their first points of the Games in their final group game, a 1-1 with Ireland.

Helena Lucas maintained her medal hopes in the 2.4mR sailing event, finishing 12th and second in her two races in Qingdao, where light winds forced two races to be cancelled.

Lucas is seventh in the overall standings with 38 points, eight behind third-placed German Heike Kroger and Dutchman Jens Als Anderson.