The Irish Wheelchair Rugby team is making final preparations before competing at the GIO 2018 IWRF Wheelchair Rugby World Championship.

The world's top 12 teams will compete at the Championship from 5-10 August in Sydney, Australia.

The Irish wheelchair rugby team is heading to the world championship for the first time. pic.twitter.com/PaFg82gt57 — RTÉ News (@rtenews) July 25, 2018

This is the first time an Irish team will compete at the event.

Wheelchair rugby was introduced to Ireland in 1997.

Captain John McCarthy has been taking part in the sport since then.

He said: "This is our first time to get to the World's. It's a massive competition for us. We’ve got a good core bunch of players now, and to compete against the best in the world is just going to be a great experience."

Ireland’s first match is against Japan on 5 August.

"My message to the team would be to go and enjoy this experience," said John McCarthy.

"Take it all in, do your best, and really get behind each other and support each other through this because there’s going to be tough games, really tough competition, but take it all in.

"We're travelling to the other side of the world to this major competition, so just enjoy the experience, and hopefully we’ll be back for more in the future."