BRITAIN'S most successful Paralympian, Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, yesterday bid an emotional farewell to international competition at the Visa Paralympic World Cup.

The 11-times Paralympic gold medallist competed in her favourite event, the T53 200m, at the Manchester Regional Arena, but was unable to call time on her career with a gold medal finish.

Grey-Thompson, who sobbed uncontrollably at the finishing line, trailed home in second spot in a time of 35.01 seconds, with America's Jessica Galli snatching gold in a championship record time of 34.40 seconds.

After struggling in the Manchester rain, Grey-Thompson confirmed she had no regrets at retiring ahead of next summer's Beijing Paralympic Games.

"I'm so emotional, I can't stop crying," sobbed Grey-Thompson, who was born with spina bifida and was forced to use a wheelchair from the age of seven. "The support was fantastic, especially on a day like this.

"But I'm just pleased it's done. I am really, really happy that it's all over. It was hard, because so many have been wishing me good luck. But I'm really happy I don't ever have to do that again.

"There's not one ounce of me that wants to do it any more. I guess a day like this was fitting because there was nothing that was going to tempt me back.

"It's nice to feel that it's truly all over. As for the race, my start and pick up were okay, but I just couldn't get going after that.

"There are lots of reasons for that, partly my feelings, partly the conditions. I really am better in the dry."

Grey-Thompson admitted she had been toying with the idea of packing away her racing career since her last Paralympics in 2004, where she won gold in the 100m and 400m in Athens.

She said: "The decision to retire was a fairly quick decision in the end, but a lot of things came to a head.

"At Athens I didn't know whether I wanted to retire and it wouldn't have been the right place to retire. It would have made a nicer story but I knew I wanted to carry on.

"But last year at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, I remember just before my 800m final looking up and thinking: 'This is probably one of the last times I'll be in front of a big stadium crowd'.

"But it was towards the back end of the year, I'd come in from a training session and said: 'That's it, I'm finished, I don't want to do it anymore'."

A large part of the reason was young daughter Carys, who was born in 2002 to Grey-Thompson and husband Ian.

"I still think I could go to Beijing (for the 2008 Paralympics) and win, but for me to be there winning would mean I would have to be away from home for five or six months this year and next year," she said.

Elsewhere, Redcar's Lee Hunter was the width of an athletics vest away from clinching bronze in the T36 200m.

The Middlesbrough AC athlete finished in a time of 26.96 seconds - an agonising two one hundreds of a second behind Ukrainian Roman Pavlyk.

Fellow Brit Ben Rushgrove won the race in a world record time of 24.86 seconds.

Hunter was also in action in the 100m finishing fifth.

Visa was the first sponsor of the Paralympic Games and their support will continue through to the London 2012 Games as Visa help bring Paralympic sport to a global audience.