Stephen McGuire, double gold medallist and world individual champion, started a successful campaign for the Road to Tokyo by winning gold in both BC4 Individual and Pairs category at the BISFed European Regional Open Competition. It was a successful competition all round for the Scottish players, with brothers Jamie and Scott McCowan and Patrick Wilson competing in the BC3 competition, where Jamie won gold and Scott won bronze for Scott in the Individual category. The last throw of a ball denied Patrick a bronze and left him in fourth place.

The competition took place in San Cugat, Barcelona, from Tuesday 11 April to Saturday 15 April 2017. Paralympians Patrick, from Edinburgh, Jamie and Scott from Dundonald and Stephen, from Hamilton, competed against players from Ukraine, Slovenia, Spain, Italy, Russia, France and Greece in the first competition of the cycle.

Results were:

• Stephen McGuire, BC4 Individual Gold
• Stephen McGuire, BC4 Pair Gold
• Jamie McCowan, BC3 Individual Gold
• Scott McCowan, BC3 Individual Bronze
• BC3 Pair (Jamie McCowan, Scott McCowan, Patrick Wilson) – 4th place

SDS would like to congratulate all players on a tremendous effort, and Boccia UK Performance Coach Claire Morrison, as well as Dundonian Darren Thomson who was selected to officiate as an International Technical Official in the competition.

If you or anyone else you know would like to get involved in the sport of boccia, please contact Scottish Disability Sport by telephoning 0131 317 1130 or alternatively email admin@scottishdisabilitysport.com.

The Scottish Association of Blind Bowlers (SABB) attended the International Blind Bowlers Association World Championships in Cape Town, South Africa from the 20 – 27^th March.

SABB, led by Team Manager David Thomas, were keen to maintain and indeed improve on previous performances and took a full squad of eight players and eight assistants to the event.

David, who was appointed President of the IBBA in Worthing 2013, would relinquish the title and duties to Dr Sarah Shapiro from Israel at the closing ceremony on the 27^th of March.

The team arrived three days early to acclimatise to the hot conditions and faster green speeds, highly recommended for bowlers based in the northern hemisphere.  The heat was another factor to be considered and became a serious problem for the players, with play having to be suspended on a number of occasions as temperatures reached the high 30’s and low 40’s. Some of the players suffered from dehydration and others severe stomach upset.

However, under these extreme circumstances, there was a silver lining in the form of 2015 IBD World B2 singles and pair champion Irene Edgar.  Irene got off to a great start and won her first three games; she was in contention to win her first IBBA gold, but unfortunately, this was hampered due to illness and she had to concede her game to Australia.  This turned out to be costly and despite winning her last game, Australia won gold from Scotland on shot difference and Irene had to settle for silver.

Her husband Billy Edgar (B2) needed to win his last game for any chance of a medal.  A tough challenge as the game was against the section leader, Hong Kong.  Billy played an outstanding game and won 21 -19, earning himself a bronze and allowing South Africa to win gold and Hong Kong to end up with silver.

The final Scottish medal went to Fiona Scotland (B4) playing in her first World Championship.  Her victory 21 -20 against England’s, Liz Ward, guaranteed a bronze medal.

Because of the health issues, this affected the mixed pairs events and no medals were achieved.

Overall, Scotland ended up 6^th out of a field of 10, which is felt by many as an underachievement.  On a positive note, the performances of the Edgars at this level bodes well, as both players are members of the Scottish Disability Sport para bowls programme and both are in contention for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Scottish Disability Sport would like to welcome the new office bearers in Grampian Disability Sport and South Lanarkshire Disability Sport branches. Grampian Disability Sport appointed a new Chairperson, Len Ironside, in December 2016 after long serving Chair, Pauline Stirling stood down. Len is doing a great job as chair so far and we are delighted that Pauline is still an active member of the Grampian Disability Sport committee.

This month, South Lanarkshire Disability Sport welcome new Chairperson Forbes Dunlop and Vice Chairperson, David Condie. The previous Chairperson, Millar Stoddard will also remain an active member of the committee after many years in the role.

Huge thanks must go to both Pauline Stirling in Grampian and Millar Stoddart in South Lanarkshire for all their hard work, support, and dedication over many years.

All three new members bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to both branches and Scottish Disability look forward to working with you all.

The BWF Spanish ParaBadminton Championships took place March 9 – 12 in Alcudia, a coastal town in northern Mallorca.

Scottish players went deep into the tournament and took home four bronze medals, two of them for Mary Wilson.

In women’s singles, class SL4, Mary won a bronze medal. And in class SS6, Deirdre Nagle also took bronze.

In women’s doubles, class SL3/4, Mary, playing alongside Russia’s Natalia Iremchuk, collected her second bronze medal while in men’s doubles, class SS6, Bobby Laing and Englishman Isaak Dalgleish, landed bronze too.

Alan Oliver – playing singles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles – won six matches and lost four. Colin Leslie – also playing all events – won five and lost four.

Full results can be found here

The seven Scottish athletes who travelled to Spain were Fiona Christie, Bobby Laing, Colin Leslie, Deirdre Nagle, Alan Oliver, David Purdie, Mary Wilson.

Norway won the World Wheelchair Curling Championships 2017 gold medals and world title for the third time on Saturday 11th March in the Gangneung Curling Centre in Gangneung, Republic of Korea. Russia took silver while Scotland won the bronze medals.

In the bronze medal match Scotland – skipped by Aileen Neilson, with third Gregor Ewan, second Hugh Nibloe, lead Robert McPherson and alternate Angie Malone – fell four shots behind China in the second end before fighting back to secure a 9-5 victory and the bronze medals.

Scotland skip, Aileen Neilson said after the win; “It’s a bit surreal to be honest. Having come off from losing in the 1v2 game to Russia, and then to Norway [in semi-final] we knew we had to come back out here and fight. After giving up the four that was a big ask but it just shows the real dynamics we have in our team. We stuck together and we didn’t let it go until the very last stone was thrown. We’ve lost big ends before and managed to fight back – it’s about not letting that get to you. There are ups and there are downs but it’s how you cope with them. And I think we fought back after the losses. You learn more from the games you lose than the games you win. We have gained so much experience in having come back from the qualifiers to come back and medal. It’s just fantastic. I’m really, really pleased.”

The 10 teams competing at the Wheelchair Curling Championships 2017 in Gangneung, Republic of Korea have all earned Paralympic Qualification Points to be in qualifying positions for the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games.

Twelve teams will compete at the Games. With points gathered across the past three World Wheelchair Curling Championships the Member Associations who have earned enough Paralympic Qualification Points are: Canada, China, Finland, Germany, Norway, Russia, Scotland (Great Britain), Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, USA and hosts Korea.

This year’s World Championships also doubled as a test event for PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games being held between 9th and 18th March 2018, as the wheelchair curling will be returning to the Gangneung Curling Centre during the games.

There will be no wheelchair world championship next year (2018) as the Championships are not held in Winter Paralympic Games years. The World Wheelchair Curling Championships 2019 will take place in Stirling, Scotland between 2nd and 8th March 2019.

Photos: © WCF / Céline Stucki

The UCI para – cycling track World Championships took place in Los Angeles, USA from the 2 – 5 March 2017 with no fewer than six Scottish athletes representing Great Britain at the event.  All of whom competed in the Tandem events for riders with a visual impairment.

Rio 2016 silver medal winning triathletes, Alison Patrick and Hazel McLeod (pilot), were making their international track cycling debut following a successful talent transfer.  Ironically, the pair didn’t combine on this occasion with Patrick being piloted by Helen Scott, whilst McLeod piloted Lora Fachie – the wife of Scotland’s highly successful sprinter, Neil.

Stalwarts Neil Fachie, once again piloted by Craig McLean, were also in action, whilst Ailien McGlynn was back in the saddle, piloted by SDS Athlete Academy Athlete Louise Haston, as they attempt to resurrect their Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games form in order to qualify for Gold Coast 2018.

All the Scottish riders were in fine form as each delivered medals on the World stage and we’ll wait to hear whether or not they met the qualifying standard for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Australia 2018.  A full list of medal success can be seen below:

More information can be found on the British Cycling website.

Scotland have reached the final play-offs at the World Wheelchair Curling Championship in Gangneung, South Korea, where they will face Russia in Friday’s play-offs with the winner going straight through to the gold-medal match.

The Scottish team consist of Aileen Neilson, Rob McPherson, Gregor Ewan and Hugh Nibloe – led by Sheila Swan – beat Germany 6-3 in their last round-robin match on Thursday.  The result secured second place in the overall standings behind Russia, to whom they lost 8-7 earlier in the competition.

The losers will have a second chance to reach the final against the winners of the play-off between third and fourth.

The Scots, who accrue qualification points for Great Britain during the Paralympic cycle, have already qualified a team to represent Great Britain at the Winter Paralympics in PyeongChang, which start in exactly a year’s time.

They finished the round-robin phase with six wins from their nine games, losing to Canada and the USA, as well as Russia.

For more information please visit http://www.worldcurling.org/wwhcc2017

The fantastic achievements in 2016 of Rio Paralympics double-gold winning sprinter Libby Clegg have been recognised at the Live Borders Celebration of Sport awards held in Kelso on Friday night.

The T11 athlete – whose family live in Newcastleton – won the ‘Disability Award’, voted for by the Scottish Borders Disability Sport Group.

The award for ‘Inspirational Moment of the Year’ was awarded to Borders Paralympians and Olympians with Libby, her brother Stephen and Gordon’s Samantha Kinghorn all receiving a smaller version of the main award to recognise this accolade.

The main award was presented on the evening to Cardrona’s Patrick Wilson, who collected on behalf of all the ‘Rio Borderers’.

The best was yet to come for Libby, as the final award of the evening is the prestigious ‘Sports Personality of the Year’ – voted for by the Borders public. Libby prevailed over the Team GB mountain biker, Grant Ferguson from Peebles and fellow Team GB Olympian Mark Robertson, a silver medallist in the Rugby 7s event from Melrose. The awards have a strong track record of recognising parasport and athletes – Sammi Kinghorn – who also had a fine year in 2016 adding a record time in the Jedburgh 10km Wheelchair Race to her Rio experience – picked up three awards in 2015 including the Personality of the Year title – and further recognition on the evening was given to Kelso Orchard Tennis Club who won the Club of the Year award and run an inclusive and discrete programme of events for players with a disability.

Photos from Event: Phil Wilkinson www.philspix.co.uk

Double Paralympian Kate Murray from Bonchester Bridge in the Scottish Borders has been inducted into the Scottish Archery Hall of Fame. Kate first tried Archery after a friend bought her a training session as a Christmas present. She enjoys the inclusive nature of the competition, often competing alongside non-disabled archers and she has now been competing for over nine years. She trains with Eastcote House and Border Bowmen and also sits on the committee of the Scottish Borders Disability Sport Group. Kate’s greatest achievement to date was winning bronze at the 2007 World Championships in Cheongju, Korea.

At London 2012, Kate finished in the top 10 of the women’s Individual Recurve (W1/W2) and placed 7th in the Team event.

Kate celebrated her 64th birthday on the opening day of competition at London 2012 and was the oldest member of ParalympicsGB.

Kate is joined on the Hall of Fame – launched in 2014 – by fellow Paralympians Jim Buchanan, John Murray and Sandy Gregory.