Over the last 10 days, 35 teams from 20 countries descended on the windy city of Oklahoma to compete not only for the Sitting Volleyball World Championship crown, but also the chance to secure a place at the London 2012 Paralympics, with the top three teams going through.

The event was the first international outing for China's women since winning gold at Beijing 2008, and a real test for the men's favourites Iran, who have not dropped a set since 2004. Great Britain made its first ever appearance at the World Championships, with the men's team looking to build on their European Championships performance last year and the women participating in their first major international tournament as their preparations pick up pace ahead of 2012.

The predictions and form held true with all the medallists from the Beijing Paralympics going through to the semi-finals of the A Division. In a repeat of a pool match, the USA women faced the Netherlands.

USA's Katie Holloway, who turned down a basketball scholarship in 2006 to take up the sport, said before the match she was confident that, in front of the home crowd and after a confident defeat of the Dutch team in the pool matches, they could win through and challenge the Chinese team. The team didn't disappoint the home crowd with a 3-1 win – though the Dutch didn’t lie down quietly and had some great defence. The Chinese team looked unstoppable in their semi with another 3-0 win over the Ukraine.

And so their success continued, with the home crowd silenced by a display of power, precision and world-class volleyball. China ended their tournament with eight matches won and a set record of 24-1 and are definitely the team to look out for in 2012.

For Great Britain women the week was also a success, with their personal targets surpassed and a great 3-1 win against Canada on the last day, ending the event on a high and with a bronze medal in the B Division.

Their Captain Emma Wiggs from the Portsmouth Sitting Centre said: 'As a relatively new squad this week has been a great learning curve for all of us. It has given us a chance to test our skills against the best teams in the world and accelerate our preparation for 2012 with seven international matches in seven days. We will now go away for a few weeks' rest over the summer before we return to the domestic season and train hard ahead of the European Championships.'

In the men's competition, the bronze medal match and gold medal matches saw a repeat of Beijing. Egypt managed to turn their defeat from 2008 into a win over Russia to claim bronze and a spot at London 2012.  In the men’s final, Iran started strong and went two sets up but Bosnia worked out their attack and took control of the second and third sets to defeat Iran.

The fifth and final set, played in front of the loudest crowd of the week packed with drums and even the odd vuvuzela, brought Iran's greater experience to the forefront and a victory in the best match of the week. Bosnia, a younger team, will be an even bigger challenge come 2012 though after guaranteeing their presence.

The British men's team built on a slow start in which they could have beaten Morocco and Kazakhstan to take three wins versus South Korea, Libya and IndiaBen Hall, the British men’s setter, believes the key to success in 2012 will be continuing to develop at their current rate and is looking forward to playing in front of a home crowd. For full results from the event visit the World Championship website

For me, the three days spent at the venue were massively rewarding, meeting with the key players and movers and shakers of the International Federation, learning the expectations of the teams and athletes for 2012 and exchanging ideas with the organising committee who hosted the World Championships. The event also saw some more British success with two of our referees, Glynn Archibald and Dee Wauchope, being presented with their full international badges as a result of their performances at the event – another big step towards them playing a part in 2012.

Sitting Volleyball is a sport for all, with domestic competition played between able bodied, disabled, male, female, young and old. If you want to find out more on the sport and follow the Great Britain squads as they continue to prepare for 2012, visit the Volleyball England website