Scottish Disability Sport was saddened to hear of the passing of its long-standing Patron, Craig Brown CBE.

Craig had been a fervent supporter of disability sport in Scotland throughout his career and was instrumental in developing inclusive practices and resources for the Scottish FA.

He was passionate about meaningful inclusion for participants and athletes with disabilities and was a frequent attendee at SDS events.

His friendship and sense of humour will be sadly missed by everyone at SDS.

Our thoughts are with Craig’s family and friends at this sad time.

For the first time in its history, para sport will be represented in the Commonwealth Youth Games this August in Trinidad. Scottish athlete Lydia Woldeselassie has been selected to compete in the T35-38 100m and long jump and is the youngest athlete in the Scottish team, only turning 14 this month. Lydia is from Glasgow and trains with Shettleston Harriers and Red Star Athletics Club.

The Youth Games was first developed in 2000 and has the aim of developing young athletes and giving them an early experience of an international multi-sport environment.

All of the athletes attending the games will be ages between 14 and 17 years old. Team Scotland will be represented in Athletics, Rugby 7s, Beach Volleyball, Triathlon, and Netball.

For more information on the athletics selections please see the article below:

Eight-Strong Track & Field Team For Trinbago 2023 – Team Scotland

Former champions Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid are drawn to meet in this year’s wheelchair tennis `semi-finals at the cinch Championships, with Friday’s first of three days of competition at The Queen’s Club featuring British players in all-four quarter-finals.

World No.2 and top seed Hewett and world No.8 Reid will play tournament debutantes Asif Abbasi and Manojkanth Somasundaram, respectively, in their opening matches before a potential semifinal. It would be the second time that the two players have met at The Queen’s Club after Hewett won their 2019 all-British men’s singles final.

Looking ahead to his 2023 challenge in the first of three wheelchair tennis draws to take place at LTA grass court tournaments over the next two weeks, Hewett said: “It’s perfect preparation for Wimbledon and we’re very grateful to be hosted here at Queen’s. We’ve got great facilities, unbelievable courts and can’t really ask for much better. I’m just trying to take it all in at the moment. I’m still learning because it’s only been a few days on the grass, so I’m hoping for a good week and for as many matches as possible, which means winning. I’ll do what I can to get to the finals and will hopefully still be playing on Sunday.”

Reid, the 2021 men’s singles winner at the Cinch Championships, missed last year’s event as he managed a wrist injury, said: “I’m really excited to be back at Queen’s this year. Obviously I was in no fit state to be playing this time last year with my wrist problems, but this is my favourite time of the year. I’ve been playing on the grass at home and I really missed not being here in 2022. I’m looking forward to a few good days of tennis here. The sun’s shining, the grass looks great and I’ve had a couple of good days of training on and feeling comfortable on the grass. I can’t wait to get going.”

While Hewett and Reid, both awarded OBEs in the King’s Birthday Honours list, are drawn in the top half of the draw, the bottom half of the draw will see fellow Brit Dermot Bailey, a former semifinalist, face second seed and defending men’s singles champion Joachim Gerard of Belgium, while 18-year-old Andrew Penney begins his second successive appearance at The Queen’s Club by taking on former world No.1 Stephane Houdet of France.

Streaming of wheelchair tennis matches at the cinch Championships will be available across LTA digital and social media channels. The doubles draw takes place on Friday.

For further news and cinch Championships updates, head to lta.org.uk or keep up to date with all the action on Twitter @the_LTA or @WChairTennisGB.

Photos courtesy of the LTA

The Scottish Paraclimbing Club have been awarded Every Body Moves’ June Club of the Month.

Based at the Edinburgh International Climbing Arena (Europe’s largest indoor climbing centre), the Scottish Cub was established in 2018 by Keith Lynch. Keith had encountered lower limb complications that subsequently required an amputation, following a sky diving incident. The club was his way of staying active and helping even more members of the disabled community access and enjoy climbing.

Full details can be found on the website here – https://everybodymoves.org.uk/ – or watch the video below.

Eight Scottish athletes travelled to Vichy in France to be part of the GB team for the Virtus Global Games, the largest event in the world for athletes with an intellectual impairment. 

The games opened on Sunday 4 June with the opening ceremony being held and Scottish Tennis player, Dominic Ianotti, selected to be the flag bearer for team GB. 

The sport competition started on Monday 4 June and much success was had by the Scots in the team.  

Swimming 

Ayrshire swimmer, Cerys McCrindle and teammates won silver in the II-2 4 x 100m Medley Relay event and a gold medal in the 4 x 200m free relay where Cerys swam a fantastic last leg of the race to bring home the medal. 

Athletics  

Sam Fernando put in a brilliant performance in the 3000m steeplechase to take silver in a time of 10.05.89, close to his PB. He also competed in the 5000m putting in a solid performance with a time of 16.22.02. Steven Bryce faced a top-class field in the 800m final running a highly respectable 2.01.12. He also competed in the 1500m, posting a time of 4.06.79 in the final. Matthew Power in his first international GB call-up posted two PBs; in the 100m semi-final he finished his race in fourth in a personal best of 11.40 to secure a place in the finals, where he had another strong run finishing fourth in 11.55. Matthew also managed a huge PB in his 200m heat with a time of 22.79 (down from 23.23) to secure a place in the final. 

Judo 

Scottish Judoka, Chris Murphy, was competing in the games and successfully retained his U81kg title. It was a tough day of competition for Chris as he faced mixed categories but brilliant to win gold in the U81kg category once again. 

Tennis 

Three tennis players took part in the Games, Dominic Ianotti, Luke Turnbull and Aidan Moody. Dominic Ianotti and Luke Turnbull won 3 gold and 2 bronze medals between them. Ianotti won Bronze in the II1 Singles and Gold in the mixed doubles tournament with partner Anna McBride, beating Australia’s Archie Graham and Kelly Wren. Ianotti and teammate Fabrice Higgins went on to win another 2 Gold medals in the Mens II2 Doubles and team event. Meanwhile Luke Turnbull and partner Olly Beadle won the bronze medal in the II2 Doubles competition. This was Aidan Moody’s first Global Games and he competed in the Singles II1, finishing in 9th position.

More information about the games and results can be found on the link below: 

Virtus Global Games 2023 | Vichy France (gg2023.org)

Athlete	Sport	Region
Steven Bryce	Athletics	Wishaw
Sam Fernando	Athletics	Fife
Matthew Power	Athletics	West Lothian
Cerys McCrindle	Swimming	Ayrshire
Chris Murphy	Judo	Drumchapel
Dominic Iannotti	Tennis	Preswick
Luke Turnbull	Tennis	East Lothian
Aidan Moody	Tennis	Glasgow

 

7^th place finish for Scots in Sardinia

The Scottish National Cerebral Palsy team competed in the IFCPF European Championships between the 2 and 11 June 2023 and finished in 7^th position. The countries involved in the Championships were: Ukraine, England, Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Spain and Italy. Scotland faced a hard group with some of the best countries in the world and had 3 tough matches in the group stages of the tournament against Ukraine, Ireland and Germany. The team put in a great fight and showed great spirit during all games with the support of their coaches and medical team. Scotland finished bottom of Group B which meant they went on to play Netherlands who finished third in group A. Unfortunately Scotland lost that match 6-0 therefore went in to the 7/8 playoff against Italy. Scotland won this game 1-0 which resulted in a 7^th position finish. A huge well done to all the players, coaches and staff who contributed to the teams success in Sardinia. All Scotland results are below:

Scotland V Ireland (2 June) – 1 – 4

Scotland V Ukraine (4 June) – 2 – 8

Scotland V  Germany (6 June) – 1 – 4

Scotland V Netherlands (8 June) 0 – 6

7/8 play off Scotland V Italy – 1- 0

Tournaments – CP Football (ifcpf.com)

Players

Name	Home town
Barry Hunter	Greenock
Blair Glynn	Tranent
Christopher Moore	Cowie
Dean Thornton	Glasgow
James McAlpine	Glasgow
Jamie Kelly	Hamilton
Keiran Martin	Falkirk
Kerr Mackenzie	Paisley
Mark Robertson	Dalkeith
Martin Hickman	Glasgow
Matthew Wynne	Eaglesham
Sean Millership	Epsom

Staff

Name	Role	Home town
Greig Taylor	Head Coach	Bo’ness
Billy McAdam	Coach	Linlithgow
Craig Young	Coach	Armadale
Erin-Louise Robertson	Sport Scientist	Edinburgh
James Docherty	Coach	Greenock
Katie Scott	Physiotherapist	Motherwell
Kirsty Pitts	Physiotherapist	Glasgow