Congratulations to Sam Fernando from Gateside and Fife Athletic Club on his personal best time at the British Milers’ Club Regional Races – including Scottish 10,000 metres Championships – at Crownpoint Stadium on Friday 20th April.

Running in the 10,000m B Race, Sam recorded a time of 33:26.24 for a second place finish behind Ben Shaw from Giffnock North who finished in 33:04.85. The ex Bell Baxter HS pupil competes in the under 23 age group and is the leading T20 distance athlete in GB at this time.

Sam’s Fife AC club mate Logan Rees finished second in the A Race in a time of 29:59.43 and Sam’s time placed him 19th overall in the Championships. A remarkable achievement by the young Disability Sport Fife athlete. Logan and Sam are coached in St Andrews by Ron Morrison of Fife AC.

The UK Sports Association for People with Learning Disability and Scottish Disability Sport have circulated details about the forthcoming INAS European Championships in Paris later in the year. Sam along with many other UK athletes will be under consideration and his performance at the GAA/BMC Regional races in Glasgow will have surely enhanced his chances of selection considerably.

Richard Brickley MBE – President Disability Sport Fife

Mary Wilson, the only competitor from Scotland, came home with three medals from the 1st Fazza Dubai Para-Badminton International held last week.

Competing in all three events, Mary had an excellent run getting out of her group in all three events.

In the singles playing in a joint SL4/SU5 event Mary successfully came out top of her group with three straight forward wins, setting her up for a quarter final clash against Australias Caitlin Dransfeild. In a 2 set battle Mary came up victorious with a 21-17, 21-17 win securing her place in the semi final and guaranteeing her a medal. She had to settle with bronze though after falling to Turkish SU5 1st seed Zehar Baglar, 21-11, 21-13.

Her singles contest was far from over though due to playing up a class and being one of the highest placed SL4 athletes Mary was then in contest to play for Silver and Bronze in the SL4 singles class with her opponent being Chiranjita Bharali from India. This was no easy contest but Mary came out with the Silver Medal with a 21-18, 21-17 win.

In the Womens doubles, playing with Frances Veronique Braud, Mary was to get her third and last medal of this event after beating the 1st seeds Khadija Khamuka and Elizabeth Mwesigwa from Uganda in their group but losing out to eventual winners Faustine Noel and Leani Ratri Oktila. Having placed second in their group they were then to meet Zehra Baglar and Manasi Joshi in the semi-final. After a 3 set battle the Turkish/ Indian pair were too strong and so Mary had to settle with a Bronze with a score line of 13-21, 21-16, 11-21.

Lastly in the mixed doubles playing with Indonesia’s Fredy Setiawan, the pair were able to get out of the group stages meeting 3/4 seeds in the quarter finals losing out in an incredible match with a score line of 18-21, 24-26 versus Ilker Tuzcu and Manasi Joshi.

Dubai hosted an excellent tournament for their first international and we hope there will be many more to come.

The UK Sports Association for People with Learning Disability have published the GB Selection Policy for the 2018 INAS European Summer Games from  14^th – 22^nd July 2018, Paris, France.

This will be of interest to high performance athletes with an intellectual impairment.

The policy can be downloaded here.

Scottish Disability Sport (SDS) and the Scottish Football Association (SFA) were delighted to deliver the National 5-a-side Football Championships at Glasgow Green once again.

An entry of 45 teams from all over Scotland arrived at Glasgow Green to participate in the SDS/ SFA National Championships to determine which team can claim bragging rights for the 5-a-side format for the year ahead.

Gary McDonald of the SFA organised the programme for the event and it was heartening to see 6 sections represented on the day. The combining of A Class and B Class players in the Premier Division has allowed teams a much more competitive environment and accommodates teams that would otherwise not play many matches.

History was made as a Glenrothes Strollers were victorious in the Premiership section – the first time ever a team from Fife has won the Premiership section. It couldn’t have been closer, though, as Glasgow Firhill and Highland finished on the same points which left goal difference to decide the winners.

It proved to be a very successful tournament, once again, for teams from the West of Scotland, with 7 further medallists from the region in all section which further demonstrates the strength of the clubs and players in this area. Claremont Colts finished ahead of Blantyre Gold in the Championships whilst an all Dumfries & Galloway final ensured half the bus would be happy on the way home. A silver medal in the Junior B section was added to their collection too.  Dumbarton Riverside claimed the League 2 title whilst Lothian performed well in the Junior sections with Cedarbank finishing runners up in the A section and Woodlands claimed victory in the B section. Carrongrange from Forth Valley were the final titlist taking the A division gold position wich an assured performance.

Scottish Disability Sport and the Scottish Football Association are grateful for the input of Brian Martin for providing officials, and to City of Glasgow College students for their unstinting support throughout the day.

The next football national event will take place at Toryglen in September.

Photo: Glenrothes Strollers – Premiership Winners