Reigning champion Gordon Reid faces Stefan Olsson of Sweden in a rematch of last year’s men’s singles final when wheelchair tennis begins at The Championships, Wimbledon on Thursday.

Reid is one of four Brits on the Tennis Foundation’s Wheelchair Tennis World Class Programme playing at the third Grand Slam of the year this time, along with Alfie Hewett, Lucy Shuker and Jordanne Whiley.

The 25-year-old made history in 2016, winning the inaugural Wimbledon wheelchair tennis men’s singles title.

“I’ve got great memories of last year and the home British crowd were a huge part of that. Hopefully that can only get better and better as the profile of wheelchair tennis goes up and up and I’m really looking forward to experiencing that again,” said Reid. “I went to the Australian Open this year as defending champion, so have that experience to draw on as defending champion here and I’m excited to get started. All matches at a Grand Slam are tough.”

Reid is drawn in the opposite half of the draw to fellow Brit and Roland Garros champion Alfie Hewett. Hewett, 19, plays Nicolas Peifer of France in his bid to reach the semi-finals and goes into the contest having won four of his last six matches against Peifer.

As well as Reid bidding to defend his title in the men’s singles, Hewett and Reid also go into Wimbledon this year as reigning men’s doubles champions. They begin their title defence against Gustavo Fernandez of Argentina and Shingo Kunieda of Japan.

“Doubles is going to be another tough opening match but me and Gordon are really up for defending our title and, again, are taking it a match at a time,” added Hewett.

Photo courtesy of the Tennis Foundation

British Para Triathletes were in action at the ITU Paratriathlon World Cup in Iseo-Franciacorta, Italy over the weekend and there was a notable performance by Highland’s Karen Darke as she won a Gold medal at the World event.

Darke is the current Paralympic Champion in hand cycling, however, she has always shown her versatility in the sport of para triathlon.  The sport, and the PTWC classification, is making its debut at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018 and as a result she has switched her attentions in order secure a place on the Scottish team for the event next year.

She won the Gold medal in a time of 01:27:37, thirteen seconds ahead of Mona Francis (FRA) who came second in 01:40:12

Scotland’s other representative was Paraympic Silver medallist, Alison Patrick (PTVI) – who recently turned her hand to track cycling – was unable to finish their races due to the Italian heat.  She was guided by Nicole Walters.

For more information please visit the British Triathlon website.

https://www.britishtriathlon.org/news/double-gold-for-gb-paratriathletes-in-italy_7516

Scotland took a 9-player strong squad over to the new Indoor National Sports Arena in Dublin this weekend with hopes of bettering their three bronze medals at the Spanish in March. Not only did they better this they trebled their medal count in what has to be their most successful International in recent years.

Scotland had three players playing in the SL3 men’s singles category with Alan Oliver, Colin Leslie and Niall Jarvie all looking to medal. Alan’s dreams were dashed with the eventual two finalists both in his pool, he was very close in both matches taking the eventual winner and runner up to three sets, leaving him 3^rd in his group. Niall Jarvie was unable to progress out of his pool losing to much improved players in his class. Our bronze medal came from Colin Leslie who came second in his group only losing to the ¾ seed. He progressed out of his pool and successfully overcame Meepian Subpong from Thailand in a convincing two sets in the quarter finals before falling to the eventual winner Kumar Nitesh from India in the semi-finals.

In the SS6 category we had Bobby Laing and Deirdre Nagle competing in the men’s and women’s events respectfully. Bobby was able to move forward to the quarter finals after coming second in his pool only losing out to England’s experienced Andrew Martin, before falling to second seed Chun Yim Wong in the quarter finals. Competing in one pool Deirdre had a difficult task playing world number 1 and 2 and was unable to get into a medal position.

In SL4 category we had David Purdie, Jamie Munro and Mary Wilson competing in the men’s and women’s singles event. David and Jamie, competing in a very tough category, were unable to secure a place out of their pools but showed improvements when playing versus some of the world’s best. Mary was able to come out of her pool with a win versus Thailand’s Darunee Henpraiwan but fell in the quarter finals to France’s Veronique Braud.

Finally, in WH2 women’s singles Fiona Christie had a very close pool with a three-way count back unfortunately putting her out of the running.

The doubles and mixed events were where Scotland really put their mark with 6 out of our 7 medals coming from the doubles and mixed categories. In the SL3-SL4 men’s doubles Alan Oliver and English Partner Antony Forester were able to secure their first international medal with an impressive win over European silver medallist’s Marcel Adam and Simon Cruz Monejar in their group followed by a quarter final win over Bob Beismans and Tim Haller. They fell in the semi-finals to eventual winners and world number one from France Matthieu Thomas and Lucas Mazur. Colin Leslie and David Purdie were our other pair along with Niall Jarvie and Ireland’s Stephen Halpin who all failed to reach the knock out stages.

Sl3-SU5 women’s doubles saw Mary Wilson and Russia’s Natalia Iremachueck secure their second bronze in their two tournaments playing together putting up a stellar performance against France who narrowly beat them to the silver medal.

In SS6 doubles Bobby Laing and England’s Isaak Dalglish put up an incredible performance to come out second in their group and reaching the semi-finals before falling to England’s top seeded Krysten Coombs and Jack Sheppard.

In WH1/2 women’s doubles Fiona and Ireland’s Laura-Lee Jenkins were also able to secure their first international medal after coming second in their pool losing out only to the eventual Thai winners, they secured a place in the semi-finals being beaten by Switzerland’s Karin Suter-Earth and Cynthia Mathez.

In the mixed doubles event our medals came from Mary Wilson partnering England’s Antony Forester in the SL3-SU5 event losing out to Thailand’s Siripong Teamarrom and Seansupa Nipada in the semi-finals and Deirdre Nagle with Russia’s Alexander Mekhdiev losing out to England’s World number 1 and 2 pair Rachel Choong with Andrew Martin and Rebecca Bedford with Ollie Clark.

With Para-Badminton taking part in the Paralympics in Tokyo 2020 and the standard of players continually rising it is an excellent achievement to come home with 7 medals at such a strong event.

For all results go to http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/tournament.aspx?id=53A1D449-E91D-474A-B976-1003E7E6C570

Dundee City Disability Sport (DCDS) is a voluntary sport group where the main aim is to lead in the development of sport for people with physical, sensory or learning disabilities in partnership with key local agencies in Dundee. DCDS is a member branch of Scottish Disability Sport (SDS) who are the governing body of sport for athletes and players with a physical, sensory or learning disability. DCDS achieved SDS Minimum Operating Requirements (MOR) which ensures all governance is up to date and appropriate. The committee of DCDS now wishes to appoint a new chair and committee members to the branch.

Full details can be downloaded below.

Dundee City Disability Sport Chairperson advert July 2017

Dundee City Disability Sport Committee Members Advert 2017

The Queen’s birthday honours list has been revealed and it includes numerous Scots, including two who have been recognised for their contribution to disability sport.

Laura Smith has been made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), for services to Disability Sport. Laura is the Development Officer (Disabilities) with Angus Alive and has been instrumental in supporting sport for people with disabilities in Angus for many years.

Laura is also an active volunteer with Special Olympics and is the current Chair of Special Olympics Scotland. She has also been involved with Special Olympics GB for over 20 years leading the GB team to the Special Olympics World Summer Games in Los Angeles in 2015.

Paralympian, Angie Malone was also among those honoured by the Queen being made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), for services to Wheelchair Curling. Angie’s achievements in the sport of wheelchair curling are considerable including a World Championships gold medal in 2005, followed by a silver in 2011, a Winter Paralympic Games silver medal in 2006 and bronze as recently as 2014.

Angie was also a member of the Scottish rink that won the bronze medal in the World Wheelchair Curling Championship in 2017 and next year will be a member of the ParalympicsGB team competing at the Winter Paralympic Games in PyeongChang. This will be Angie’s fourth Winter Paralympic Games.

 

SDS would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Laura and Angie on these well-deserved honours.

basketballscotland is delighted to announce that Scottish duo Robyn Love and George Bates have been named in this year’s British Wheelchair Basketball Teams for the upcoming European Championships in Tenerife.

Following a successful Rio 2016 Paralympic campaign, Love will be hoping for yet more success this summer as she joins the Senior Women team who recently won the Continental Clash.

Dual-national George Bates’ call-up to the Men’s European Championships side will mark Bates’ senior debut after successfully representing GB and Scotland at U23 level in the past.

Both squads will travel to Tenerife where the European Championships get underway on the 21st June. Robyn Love’s side will face a tough opener against Germany while Bates’ Men’s side will take on Sweden in their opening fixture.

We will be keeping a close eye on all the action and would like to wish Robyn and George the best of luck at this year’s Championships.

The 2017 Scottish Disability Sport Junior Athletic Championship – run once again in partnership with Scottish Athletics – was hosted once more by Grangemouth Stadium. Over 350 athletes from all over Scotland were welcomed from schools and clubs covering the length and breadth of Scotland.

One of Scotland’s leading athletes Sammi Kinghorn  – whose selection for London 2017 World Games, along with fellow Scots Maria Lyle, Stef Reid and Jo Butterfield, was announced during the event – was on hand to lend her experience and expertise to the many youngsters aiming to emulate her achievements. Sammi competed alongside Sean Frame as senior guests at this event and their presence ensured the younger athletes in the wheelchairs all performed considerably faster than they had previously at this event. Luke Deighan (Red Star) secured no less than four Championship Best Performances (CBPs) in the 100m, 200m, 800m and sharing the 400m CBP with Kyle Brotherton (Red Star) – who added the 1500m CBP – to his own collection of achievements.

CBPs were tumbling all around with Red Star’s Nathan Fleetwood enhancing his growing reputation with two record breaking performances from the T20 athlete in the 100m and 200m.

Highlands Abbie McNally and Eve Grant were each celebrating their own CBPs for athletes with a physical disability in the 100m, 200m (both Abbie) and the 400m (Eve). Abbie added the Long Jump CBP to her impressive haul with a distance of 3.56m.

It was fantastic to see entries from our partners at Dwarf Sports Association Scotland which saw Finlay and Skye Davidson, Andrew Davies and Merryn Binnie collect a total of 10 medals including an amazing three golds for Skye.

It is imperative that the opportunities for our athletes to follow in the prestigious journeys of elite Scottish athletes before them, such as Sammi, remain plentiful and varied therefore it remains paramount that local, branch and regional competitive calendars are enhanced and supported by schools, clubs and athletes in the area to ensure every athlete has access to more competitive experiences.

Scottish Disability Sport and scottishathletics would like to thank all involved in making the day a success. Particular mention should go to the volunteer officials from scottishathletics and the students from West Lothian College, with whom we continue to have an excellent relationship.

SDS look forward to welcoming our senior athletes to the National Senior Athletics Championships in Grangemouth in September.

Photo © Laurence Bisset

SDS is disappointed to announce that the Scottish FA has taken the decision to withdraw the Scottish Cerebral Palsy Football Squad from the 2017 International Federation for Cerebral Palsy Football (IFCPF) World Championships which are due to be held in Argentina this September. In addition, all planned training camps have been cancelled with immediate effect.

The decision has been taken by the Scottish FA following a recent change to the IFCPF player eligibility policy which now allows any player possessing a UK passport to represent any of the UK home nations. The Scottish FA also feels very strongly that this position also threatens Scotland’s position as an independent football nation. SDS and the Scottish FA had jointly communicated their concerns relating to this change in policy, and the implications for Scotland, to the IFCPF on numerous occasions but the decision to move to a passport based policy was taken regardless.

Stewart Regan, Scottish FA Chief Executive said: “It is extremely regrettable that despite our appeals the IFCPF has chosen to enforce this rule change, which we believe would have a detrimental effect on Scotland’s status as an independent football nation.

“We have taken every possible action in an attempt to allow the team to compete but have determined that the new rule leaves us with no option other than to withdraw from all IFCPF competitions, including the World Championships, with immediate effect.”

“Our heartfelt sympathies go out to the players who were set to represent their country on the world stage later this year. This is a disappointing outcome to what has been a successful journey for the Scotland CP team, of whom the entire country can be proud.”

SDS has always enjoyed an extremely positive and productive working partnership with the Scottish FA built over many years of joint endeavour and whilst we can appreciate their thinking in this instance, we must think of the players and coaches who will ultimately be the ones who suffer in this situation. As a result, SDS is currently working with the coaches and support staff of the Scottish Cerebral Palsy squad to ensure that a programme of training and support is maintained for the players for the foreseeable future. This is a difficult and frustrating situation for the players and staff but SDS will do whatever it can to support, taking into account limited resources.

Scotland has a proud history of involvement in Cerebral Palsy Football and has played a significant role in the growth of the sport. Scotland hosted the first Cerebral Palsy international match in Edinburgh in 1978, the first Regional Championship in Glasgow in 1985, the European Championships in Glasgow in 2010, and competed in the inaugural under-19 World Championships in Nottingham 2015. The Scotland Cerebral Palsy National Team has regularly competed in IFCPF organised competitions and are currently ranked 9^th in the world.

It has been a very busy first half of 2017 for the SDS Events Calendar. It started with a brand new event for SDS, with the inaugural SDS Disability Badminton Championships, run in partnership with Lothian Disability Badminton Club, which saw excellent entry numbers and a high standard of play throughout.

February saw the National Carpet Bowls Championships held, once again, in Dundee. An excellent days bowling saw Team Highland win their first trophy in almost two decades. Our thanks to Dundee City Disability Sport and Leisure & Culture Dundee for their continued commitment to the event. The competition pathways in bowls have been strengthened by the continuation of the SDS National Indoor Singles Championships, in partnership with SIBA and sponsored by Co-op Funeralcare.

The competition opportunities for boccia have strengthened considerably with a comprehensive calendar of local and regional events in place now which serves to ensure a stronger representation at the national events. SDS are to host a three-day Scottish Open event at Inverclyde in October. This event will feature competitors from all over the world competing in individuals, pairs and teams format and is the first of its kind in Scotland.

Our partnerships with Scottish Athletics and the Scottish Football Association continue to flourish with significant numbers attending the national competitions.

SDS were grateful to everyone involved in securing a replacement venue in Inverness for the National Senior Swim Championships at very short notice. It was an excellent occasion for all who competed and West of Scotland retained the Kintore Trophy despite admirable efforts from Tayside and the hosts Highland who finished second and third respectively. The event for swimmers with a physical/ sensory impairment was held earlier in the month at Grangemouth where West of Scotland were again successful in the overall team trophy. Some amazing performances were seen that day, not least Fife’s Oliver Carter becoming the first swimmer with a physical disability to swim under 1 minute for the 100m Freestyle at this event.

After a two-year hiatus at Badaguish, SDS return to the all-new Inverclyde Centre for the 2017 edition of its Summer Camp on 5-7 July.

 

There is much to look forward to in the remainder of 2017 and SDS thanks all participants, volunteers, officials and sponsors for their considerable input to the calendar so far.

Scottish swimmers looking to progress in the para swimming pathway congregated at Aberdeen Aquatics Centre to compete in the SDS/SS National Performance Championships. Thirty nine swimmers from across the length and breadth of Scotland competed in their classification groups in a multi classification format to achieve personal bests and break records with a view to being selected for the Scottish Swimming National Squad Programme.

This event is being targeted at swimmers of regional development squad level and above who are swimming at least twice a week from all areas of Scotland.  As well as providing swimmers with another competition in the calendar year it will aim to achieve the following:

• Offer a wider range of events to swimmers;
• Give swimmers experience and educate them in the minus one rule and the British Disability Points Scoring System;
• Develop swimmers’ competition etiquette.

Results will also be used to select swimmers for the Scottish Swimming National Development Squads for swimmers with physical, sensory and learning disabilities.

The championships are open to SDS Regional development squad swimmers identified by SDS Regional Managers and Scottish Swimming as having potential to progress through the swimmer pathway. This includes swimmers identified for classification and those who currently hold recognised classifications.

S1-S10: British Swimming (BS) or International Paralympic Committee (IPC)

S11-S13: British Blind Sport (BBS) or International Blind Sport Association (IBSA)

S14: UK Sports Association (UKSA) or International Association of Sports (INAS-FID)

S15: UK Deaf Sport (UKDS) or International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (ICSD)

For the first time ever the event was integrated with a mainstream district meet organised by Dyce ASC. This was deemed to be a great success with both mainstream and para swimmers benefitting from the extended programme. A total of 132 swims took place in the above classification groups over the course of the day.

Para swimmers did not disappoint, in the effort to be the best they can be. The standard of swimming was high and swimmers pushed each other with some very close finishes. An outstandingly total of 75 personal bests were achieved throughout all of the classes.

And to top it off a new record was set by Lothian swimmer Neil Ferguson – S7 100m Butterfly 1:48.27.

For a full list of results please click here.

Scottish Disability Sport and Scottish Swimming are always welcome new and existing swimmers so if you or anyone else you know would like to get involved in disability swimming please telephone SDS on 0131 317 1130, alternatively you can email admin@scottishdisabilitysport.com.