Reigning US Open champion Alfie Hewett faces a rematch of September’s men’s singles final in New York against world No. 1 Shingo Kunieda when the four-strong Brit wheelchair tennis challenge begins on Wednesday at the Australian Open.

While Hewett begins his bid for back-to-back Grand Slam singles crowns against Japan’s defending Australian Open champion, 2016 champion and fellow Brit Gordon Reid will play Stephane Houdet of France, the 2018 runner-up to Kunieda at Melbourne Park.

Lucy Shuker will open her women’s singles campaign against Dutch defending champion Diede de Groot, while Andy Lapthorne plays former champion David Wagner of the USA in his first of three quad singles round-robin matches.

Ahead of his first match since winning the US Open in September, world No.3 Hewett said:

“I’ve come back from having a break and I’m feeling motivated to perform and where that leads I’m excited to find out. I’ve had an intense training period leading up to Australia. My fitness was always maintained, so physically I feel like I’m fresh and in a good place. However, when you take time away from the sport its surprising how quickly you lose little things about your game. So I’ve had to work hard to get back up to a level where I feel like I can really challenge for the title.”

World No.7 Reid won the first Grand Slam singles title of his career in Australia three years ago and is relishing his return to Melbourne, which will see him play world No.3 Houdet in his opening singles and doubles matches. He said:

“I love coming back to Melbourne Park, they have improved the facilities once again and it’s fantastic for all the players. Seeing the singles trophy up close again during the draw ceremony brought back great memories from 2016.”

While Hewett begins his 2019 season this week, Reid has already played two tournaments this season, the first of which brought his latest Super Series doubles title when he partnered Argentina’s Gustavo Fernandez to win the Bendigo Open. He now turns his attention to attempting to win back-to-back Grand Slam doubles titles with Hewett as the two-time US Open and three-time Wimbledon champions reunite.

“Over the last few months I’ve played with a few different partners while Alfie had his break. So I’m looking forward to being back on the doubles court with him and aiming to win our first Aussie Open doubles title as a team,”

Hewett and Reid will play Houdet and Australian Ben Weekes in their semi-final.

Five-time Australian Open doubles champion Andy Lapthorne opens his bid for a first quad singles title at Melbourne Park against his doubles partner and world No.2 David Wagner of the USA. Lapthorne was runner-up to Wagner at last week’s ITF 1 Melbourne Open.

World No.3 and 2014 US Open quad singles champion Lapthorne, who was runner-up to Wagner at last week’s ITF 1 Melbourne Open, said:

“I feel like I’m playing OK right now and getting some good results and performances, so I’m looking forward to really trying to bring my best tennis to the singles court this year. It’s always a buzz coming back to Australia and knowing I’ve won lots of titles here and I’m looking to add to that this week. As far as David and I go in doubles, we are a good team and well prepared for our latest chance at another Grand Slam together.”

After facing Wagner, Lapthorne will also play Australians Dylan Alcott and Heath Davidson in the four-ay round robin phase of the quad singles competition The top two players after the round-robin will go forward to Saturday’s quad singles final. Later this week Lapthorne and Wagner will also play Alcott and Davidson as the Anglo-American duo and reigning US Open champions attempt to win their fourth Australian Open quad doubles title in six years.

Of the four Brits competing in the wheelchair events at Melbourne Park this week world No. 7 Shuker has the most experience of the first Grand Slam of the year. Shuker will be playing her tenth Australian Open and faces a tough assignment in her opening women’s singles match on Wednesday when she takes on world No.1 Diede de Groot. She said:

“I’m extremely proud to have qualified for this Grand Slam for the tenth time. It’s a stat I can be proud of. I’ve had some great results and performances here over the years, being twice a singles semi-finalist and twice a doubles finalist. The Australian Open is definitely one of my favourite tournaments in the calendar, there is always a real buzz in Melbourne during the Slam.”

After contesting her latest Grand Slam doubles final at Wimbledon last July partnering Germany’s Sabine Ellerbrock, Shuker partners South Africa’s Kgothatso Montjane this week. Shuker and Montjane will play Ellerbrock and Dutchwoman Marjolein Buis in their semi-final.

Photo courtesy of the Tennis Foundation

Scottish Disability Sport / Scottish Swimming National Performance Swim Championships 2019
Sunday 20^th January 2019

The Mercat Gait Centre in East Lothian played host to the Scottish Disability Sport / Scottish Swimming National Short Course Performance Swim Championships on Sunday 20^th January 2019, attracting 40 swimmers with a physical, visual, hearing or learning impairment from all regions of the country.

The Performance Championships are a strong partnership event between Scottish Disability Sport and Scottish Swimming and were introduced to support regional development and create an appropriate competition for regional and national squad swimmers, inviting individuals from the Highlands, Grampian, Central, Fife the West and East of Scotland.  The event implements the IPC Multi-Classification system and for a number of swimmers, this was the first time they had experienced the British Swimming Points Scoring System allowing them valuable an introduction to these conditions and therefore preparing them for future competitions.

This years event welcomed several swimmers for the first time, many of whom are working towards an official classification and the championships provide an excellent platform for these individuals to record times over distances they might not have competed over in the past. One swimmer new to the event was Fife’s Katie Pake – the Carnegie Swimming Club youngster recording four personal best times including the 100m free (1.37.91).

Other notable performances on the day came from West of Scotland swimmer Louis Lawlor and Highland’s Tamsin Neef. The two S14 swimmers claimed a clean sweep with Lawlor (City of Glasgow Swim Team) taking home gold medals in the 200m free, 100m fly, 200m IM and 100m free, while Neef (TAIN ASC) claiming first places in 100m back, 200m free, 100m fly, 100m breast, 200m IM and 100m free.

Scottish Disability Sport would like to express thanks to all the dedicated volunteers from the SASA East District for their invaluable support on the day, as well as the expertise provided from multi Paralympic medallists Jim Anderson OBE and Paul Noble MBE who kindly presented medals and provided expert commentary throughout the day.

Paul Wilson, the Disability Performance Development Manager at Scottish Swimming, was also present to ensure the smooth running of the event lending his experience to the points system for the event.

For further information on the event or swimming for people with disabilities in Scotland, contact Scottish Disability Sport on 0131 317 1130 or alternatively email admin@scottishdisabilitysport.com.

Scotland’s Gordon Reid won the Bendigo Open to claim the first men’s doubles Super Series title of the year.  The world number seven Reid and Argentine partner Gustavo Fernandez beat French top seeds Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer 6-3 6-3 on Saturday. 

The pair were playing in their second tournament together since reaching the final of the 2015 Australian Open. 

A further report can be found on the Paralympics GB website: 

https://www.paralympics.org.uk/articles/reid-and-fernandez-seal-bendigo-open-doubles-glory  

Photo courtesy of the Tennis Foundation

Stirling will play host the biggest wheelchair curling event outside of the Paralympic Winter Games as the 2019 Wheelchair Curling Championships comes to The Peak Sports Village. Scotland’s athletes are not only competing for a world title but the Championships is also a qualification event for the 2022 Winter Paralympic Games.

The event will feature 12 mixed gender teams: one from the host nation, eight qualifying directly from the previous World Championships and three from the World Wheelchair Curling Qualifying event.

The qualification event held in Lohja, Finland, in November, saw the wheelchair curling teams from Estonia, Slovakia and Latvia confirm their places in Stirling. This will be the first time that Estonia and Latvia have competed at the World Championships, whilst Slovakia return after their absence in 2017. With that, the final 12 nations for Stirling are now confirmed as Canada, China, Estonia, Germany, South Korea, Latvia, Norway, Russia, Scotland, Slovakia, Switzerland and United States.

The draw for the World Championships has taken place and Scotland will face the world’s best as follows;

Sunday 3 March (19.00)                Scotland v Switzerland
Monday 4 March (14.00)               Scotland v Latvia
Monday 4 March (19.00)               Scotland v Germany
Tuesday 5 March (9.00)                 Scotland v Norway
Tuesday 5 March (14.00)               Scotland v South Korea
Wednesday 6 March (9.00)         Scotland v China
Wednesday 6 March (14.00)       Scotland v USA
Thursday 7 March (9.00)               Scotland v Slovakia
Thursday 7 March (19.00)             Scotland v Russia
Friday 8 March (14.00)                   Scotland v Estonia
Friday 8 March (19.00)                   Scotland v Canada

Semi Finals will be held on Saturday 9 March at 19.00, the bronze medal match on Sunday 10 March at 10.00 followed by that gold medal match at 14.30.

The Championships return to Scotland for the first time since 2005, when Scotland took the World title. This will also be the first time that 12 teams have competed in a World Wheelchair Championship and it will be the first opportunity for nations to gain qualification points towards the next Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing, in 2022.

You can follow the build-up and results of the World Wheelchair Curling Championship at http://www.worldcurling.org/wwhcc2019, on Twitter, Instagram (@worldcurling | @wwhcc2019) and Facebook (/WorldCurlingFederation | /wwhcc19) and by searching the hashtags #WWhCC2019 #curling.

After an incredible season that saw her break onto to scene as a world class senior swimmer, Aberdeen’s Toni Shaw was awarded the Disability Sport title at this year’s Sunday Mail sportscotland Scottish Sports Awards.

Shaw fought off tough competition from RaceRunning phenomenon, Gavin Drysdale, and fellow Grampian Champion, Neil Fachie to earn the top spot. It follows a busy but successful year for Toni where she rocked home with a plethora of silverware whilst making her debut as a senior at the European World Para Swimming Championships in Dublin and was also made the face of Scottish Swimming’s new Learn to Swim framework. Being the youngest competitor in Team Scotland at this year’s Commonwealth Games and reaching the final in almost all of her events was another of this year’s impressive highlights.

Well done to Toni and thank you to her coaches, supporters and family who have helped her get where she is today!

If you or anyone you know lives in Grampian with a physical, sensory or learning disability and is interested in getting involved in sport, please get in touch with Alison Shaw on alison.shaw@scottishdisabilitysport.com or 07828 744 848.