Great Britain fight back to beat China for Paralympic curling bronze

British curlers Aileen Neilson, left, Bob McPherson, centre, and Jim Gault during the Paralympic Games in Sochi. Photograph: Sergei Chirikov/EPA

Skip Aileen Neilson inspired Great Britain's curlers to Winter Paralympic bronze with a 7-3 triumph over China. Neilson's rink, beaten 13-4 by the hosts Russia in their semi-final , regrouped superbly to fight back from an early 3-0 deficit. Victory took Britain's medal tally in Sochi to six.

Neilson was in tears at the finish as she celebrated with her team-mates, Angie Malone, Jim Gault, Gregor Ewan and alternate Bob McPherson. Britain had lost 6-3 to the Chinese in their final round-robin match on Thursday, but in the bronze medal match Neilson produced her best match of a tournament in which her all-Scottish rink have been inconsistent, mixing impressive wins with heavy losses.

It was thanks to Neilson they were not trailing by more than 3-0 after two ends, a rescue effort in the first limiting their opponents to a one-stone success. A pinpoint takeout from the 42-year-old in the third end made it 3-2 and in the next she forced an error from the China skip Wang Haitao to put her side 4-3 in front.

One-stone successes then followed in the fifth, sixth and seventh ends to leave China with too much ground to make up.

Neilson finished the match with an accuracy of 75%.

Malone, the only remaining member of the 2006 silver medal-winning team from Turin, who was brought in for McPherson for the match, also justified her inclusion with 75% accuracy.