Gordon Reid produced a brilliant performance on Sunday to beat top seed and world No.3 Gustavo Fernandez 6-2, 6-2 to lift his first wheelchair singles title at the LTA’s cinch Championships at The Queen’s Club in London.

A ground-breaking three days of grass court wheelchair tennis later ended with a second British champion after Jordanne Whiley partnered Japan’s Yui Kamiji to win the women’s doubles title at the Viking Classic Birmingham, where top seed Kamiji also claimed the singles crown at the first ever women’s wheelchair grass court ranking tournament outside Wimbledon.

Reid, runner-up to fellow Brit Alfie Hewett in 2019, claimed his second singles title of 2021 as the 2016 Wimbledon champion beat Argentina’s 2019 Wimbledon champion Fernandez in an hour and 18 minutes. The victorious world No.6 Reid, said:

“It’s a great feeling. Tactically I got it spot on today and executed the game plan pretty convincingly. I served pretty steadily and returned the right spot, so everything combined to give me a good chance to do well. I Iike to slice my backhand, it becomes more effective on the grass and causes a lot of damage. That’s one shot that worked really well today.”

Reid won the last four games of the first set and secured the early break in the second set before completing a clinical performance with a deep cross court backhand that Fernandez was unable to return with any accuracy. The victorious Brit added:

“Just being around here in the grounds and seeing the boards with all the title winners over the years and there are some iconic names on there stretching back a long time, so it’s great that the wheelchair event is here and we are part of a great event with so much history. It’s amazing to have my name on the boards as one of the winners now.”

Fernandez also finished runner-up in the men’s doubles, partnering Dutchman Tom Egberink after Belgium’s Joachim Gerard and Sweden’s Stefan Olsson, the 2019 champions at both The Queen’s Club and Wimbledon, recovered to make it back-to-back titles as they wrapped up a thrilling encounter 1-6, 6-7(4), (10-6) after a deciding match tie-break.

There was another pulsating conclusion to the historic women’s singles final in Birmingham as world No.2 Kamiji saved match points in a final set tie-break against world No.3 and 2019 Wimbledon champion Aniek van Koot of the Netherlands to prevail 6-1, 1-6, 7-6(6). Kamiji, who had beaten Whiley 7-5 in the final set of their semi-final on Saturday, said:

“It was very tough and she (Van Koot) is a very good slicer, so it was very difficult to win the points. I tried many things, so I’m happy with my performance today and, of course, it’s a good stepping-stone going into Wimbledon.

“During the doubles final Jordanne reminded me that we had only lost two-times together on grass. It’s very nice to play with her all the time, but especially on grass and in her home country and home town.”

Birmingham-born Whiley and Kamiji won their 22nd career doubles title together as the 11-time Grand Slam champions defeated Montjane and van Koot 6-3, 6-3. A delighted Whiley said:

“I’ve never played a tournament in Birmingham before, so it’s nice to be back home and hear the accent. I feel like this is really good prep for Wimbledon. I don’t feel like I played that well today, if I’m honest, but it’s a massive confidence boost because we got the win.

“In the singles, as well, I put up a good fight because at Roland Garros a couple of weeks ago I lost 6-1, 6-2 to Yui. So it’s a big confidence booster and I’m just looking forward to Wimbledon now.”

To find out more about the LTA’s work with disability tennis, head to www.lta.org.uk/play or email disabilitytennis@lta.org.uk

Photos courtesy of the LTA

Location: Kilncraigs, Greenside Street, Alloa, FK10 1EB
Salary: £26,024.52 – £29,254.77 per year pro rata
Contract type: Permanent
Position type: Part Time
Hours: 21 hours per week
Closes: 23/6/2021

In partnership with sportscotland and Clackmannanshire Council  co-ordinate and create opportunities, links to competitions, leadership pathways, and lead on inclusion in physical activity and sport for pupils with additional support needs across Clackmannanshire linking primary, special, secondary and club activities into local, regional and national events and competitions.

Full information is on the sportscotland website here: https://www.myjobscotland.gov.uk/councils/clackmannanshire-council/jobs/active-schools-coordinator-additional-support-needs-221333

 

Scottish Disability Sport (SDS) enjoy a close relationship with basketballscotland and continue to work collaboratively to support and develop opportunities for participants with disabilities to play basketball across the country.

Participation opportunities are available to all individuals, including players with a learning disability and those with a physical disability via running and wheelchair formats of the game.  The inclusive nature of the sport enables players of all abilities, regardless of experience or background to come together, become connected and get involved.

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Para Sport Festivals

Basketball is a mainstay at the SDS Para Sport Festivals with many children and young people given a taste of the sport for the first time under the watchful eye of basketballscotland’s Disability Talent & Pathways Manager Tina Gordon who is quick to identify and support anyone who is keen to take the sport further.  Para Sport Festivals have been a key method of engaging school aged young people at grassroots level and supporting them into club activity and we hope to continue this trend as we return to sport post pandemic.

Clubs

As mentioned, there are opportunities to play the sport across the country and more details of these sessions can be found via the interactive map here.

There are currently six wheelchair basketball clubs across Scotland, ranging from more established clubs like Lothian Phoenix, Dundee Dragons Wheelchair Sports Club and West of Scotland Wheelchair Sports Club (Glasgow Rolling Rocks) to recently developed opportunities like Perth Eagles Wheelchair Sports Club.

In addition to established club activity, there are also sessions delivered at the Crags Centre in Edinburgh offering ‘pick up’ wheelchair basketball sessions and opportunities for young people on the autism spectrum disorder.

Players with Learning Disabilities

Opportunities for players with learning disabilities are primarily driven by Special Olympics branches and supported by basketballscotland.  There is a strong basketball presence for players with a learning disability in the West of Scotland and Tayside while other regions are also looking to establish and develop activity, creating more opportunity across the country.

Leading Performers

Ayr born Robyn Love is Scotland’s leading wheelchair basketball player having represented GB Women since 2015 where she assisted the team to a sliver medal at the Osaka Cup in Japan.  The 3.5 point player also represented GB Women at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio and is focused on her second Games, which are scheduled to take place in Tokyo later this year (2021).

You can listen to Robyn’s journey on the SDS Paracast, with Robyn’s episode due to be released on Thursday 17th June.

Coach, Education and Training Opportunities

basketballscotland have developed their coach education pathway to ensure that inclusion is a golden thread that runs through each course from the introductory ‘Make It Happen’ to the UKCC Level 2.  This inclusive approach allows developing coaches to gain an understanding of disability basketball and provides the required support should they wish to focus on this.

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Visit the basketballscotland website for more information

Contact: Tina Gordon, Disability Talent & Pathways Manager – tina.gordon@basketball-scotland.com

Look out for more Spotlight on Basketball content this week on our website and social media channels!

Lesley Stewart from Scotland and Scottish Target Shooting’s inclusive Performance Programme has secured bronze and a Tokyo Paralympic quota place for ParalympicsGB at the World Shooting Para Sport Lima World Cup 2021.

It was a fantastic performance in the Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions SH1 with Lesley securing a final score of 427.0 after a strong final round pulling away from her rival from South Korea, Yoojeong Lee, who finished in 4th with a score of 414.5.

Ukraine’s Iryna Shchetnik won the gold medal with a score of 448.1 and Thailand’s Wannipa Leungvilai who secured silver with 443.0.

Lesley’s quota makes it seven places in total for the GB Paralympic team with Issy Bailey, Jimmy Bevis, Ryan Cockbill, Tim Jeffrey, Lorraine Lambert and Matt Skelton all having been confirmed onto the team in January this year.

Huge congratulations to Lesley who only returned to the sport a few years ago after taking a break from the sport. Big congratulations as well to Lesley’s coaching team who have worked so hard to help her prepare for the event and will look to support her over the coming months if she is selected for Tokyo on the back of this achievement. It is a compliment to the STS Performance Programme’s inclusive approach to running the programme, adopted following the transfer of the programme to STS following the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018. STS has also been working with Scottish Disability Sport to provide the best possible support to athletes with a disability on the programme, and British Shooting through her involvement in their Academy programme.

Lesley shoots again today (14 June 2021) in the Women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 competition in Lima, with the pressure off having secured a quota place for the team (and hopefully a spot on the plan for herself)!

Video: Watch Lesley’s final on youtube here

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Article reproduced with permission from Scottish Target Shooting (STS)

 

Huge congratulations to South Ayrshire athlete Kayleigh Haggo who broke the World Record and got a Personal Best in the RR3 100m at the European Championships in Poland last week (Friday 4th June).

It was a long day of travelling for Kayleigh and coach John Owens who arrived in Poland late on the Tuesday night. Wednesday and Thursday were spent trying to relax ahead of the race on Friday, along with a couple of light training sessions each day.

Race Day is always nerve-wracking, and this was not helped by the race not being until 7pm in the evening. During the day Kayleigh had a long lie, tried to chill while watching some of the live streaming of the event and then taking a nap. All nerves go for Kayleigh when she arrives at the venue and goes through the call room procedures and warm up. Waiting around for this is the worst part of it all.

About 10 minutes before the race, it started to rain which made it feel more like Scotland. Kayleigh was feeling relaxed on the start line as knew she had done everything she could and just had a job to do. You can be as prepared as you can but never know what other people may do on the day. As soon as the gun fired it was head down and go. Once crossed the line was just sheer delight that all the hard work had paid off.

The process is very rushed after the race with Kayleigh being whisked off for photos and media. Its then quickly to collect all her belongings from the track, then a quick change before for the medal ceremony which was the best feeling.

Early flight home the next day to self-isolate for 10 days (with the exemption from British Athletics for training purposes) so still feels like it hasn’t sunk in. Next up for Kayleigh is continuing to train and looking at competitions to compete in locally over the next few months.

We are all so proud of Kayleigh, just goes to show hard work definitely pays off!

At the close of  #UKCoachingWeek, SDS would like to acknowledge and thank all coaches who have such a positive impact on participants enjoying physical activity and sport.

Thank you to all the coaches who have kept in contact with all their participants over the last year and keep up the great sessions as we return to sport.

Here’s just a few thoughts from some returning  coaches here:

 

Former SDS Athlete Academy archer, Nathan MacQueen, sets sights on Paralympic glory in Tokyo. Click on the link below to read the full story covered in the recent SportFirst publication by sportscotland.

https://sportfirst.sportscotland.org.uk/articles/macqueens-gambit/

• Wheelchair tennis draw to take place at Roland Garros on Thursday afternoon, 3 June 
• Brits Alfie Hewett, Gordon Reid, Jordanne Whiley and Andy Lapthorne in action 4-7 June  

Britain’s Alfie Hewett, Gordon Reid, Jordanne Whiley and Andy Lapthorne begin their French Open wheelchair tennis challenges at Roland Garros on Friday, with the quartet of players on the LTA’s Wheelchair Performance Pathway bidding to build on the 44 Grand Slam titles they have so far amassed between them. 

World No.4 Whiley arrives in Paris in fine form, having beaten Dutch world No.3 Aniek van Koot to reach the final of her first clay court tournament of the season last week in Le Touquet, Whiley went on to take a set from world No.2 Yui Kamiji for the first time since the 2015 US Open final when they met in the final in Le Touquet. Having led the final set 5-3 before finishing runner-up to Kamiji, Whiley said: 

“I’m disappointed to have lost to Yui last week, but I can see so many positives going into Roland Garros. I had a disaster at the Loughborough Indoor at the end of March, where I lost to Aniek in the semis and I really knuckled down after that. Now I feel like I’m in a really good place and I have high hopes for Roland Garros.” 

Among Whiley’s hopes for Roland Garros are to add to the 11 Grand Slam doubles titles she has won partnering best friend Kamiji after they won their 21st career doubles title together in Le Touquet last week. 

“Obviously it was great to be back playing with Yui for the first time since Roland Garros last October, where we just missed out in a match tie-break in the final. We had some competitive matches in Le Touquet and it’s left us feeling strong for our return to Paris,” added Whiley. 

Friday afternoon’s wheelchair draw at Roland Garros could see Whiley drawn against either Kamiji or van Koot as one of seven possible first round opponents for her opening match on Friday. 

Equally, defending Roland Garros men’s singles champion world No.3 Alfie Hewett and fellow Brit and world No.4 Gordon Reid could find themselves drawn against either of the world’s top two ranked players, Shingo Kunieda and Gustavo Fernandez. Hewett bowed out to world No.2 Fernandez in the semi-finals in Le Toquet but beat the Argentinian in the semi-finals at Roland Garros last October, having also beaten Fernandez to win his first career Grand Slam title in Paris in 2017. 

A quarter-finalist in Le Touquet before his singles challenge ended against world No.1 Kunieda, Reid has faced Fernandez in his two Roland Garros men’s singles finals to date, in 2016 and 2019.   

Aside from their singles title bids, Hewett and Reid will also hope to become the outright holders of the record for most Grand Slam doubles titles won by any all-British partnership. After winning their first Roland Garros doubles title together in October last year they added their second Australian Open title in January and currently share the British record of 10 Grand Slam titles with brothers Laurie and Reginald, won their 10 Grand Slam titles between 1897 and 1905. 

Quad singles world No.2 and 12-time Grand Slam doubles champion Lapthorne heads into his second appearance at Roland Garros on the back of finishing runner-up to Dutchman Niels Vink in Le Touquet last week and seeking a career Grand Slam of doubles titles. He said: 

“It’s great to be back in Paris after a decent performance at my first clay court event of the season last week. Roland Garros is this only Grand Slam at which I’ve not won a singles or doubles title so far and I’ll be doing all I possibly can to change that this year and add to my 12 trophies from the Slams.” 

With Vink not among Lapthorne’s potential semi-final singles opponents in Paris, the Rio Paralympic silver medallist will face a singles semi-final against either Australia’s Dylan Alcott, Dutchman Sam Schroder or the USA’s David Wagner.  

Lapthorne will also partner Wagner for the quad doubles, the Anglo-American duo having previously won three Australian Open and two US Open quad doubles titles together. 

For news and updates from the wheelchair tennis draws and the fortunes of the Brits at the French Open at Roland Garros, follow on Twitter @the_LTA and @WChairTennisGB. 

Photo courtesy of LTA

For the first time ever UK Sport and the English Institute of Sport (EIS) are collaborating with Team GB, ParalympicsGB and 19 Olympic and Paralympic sports to launch its latest search for the athletes of the future – From Home 2 The Games.

The search is the 17th to be run nationally since 2007 by UK Sport, in partnership with the EIS and the UK’s Olympic and Paralympic high-performance community, with From Home 2 The Games the first to leverage the power of both Team GB and ParalympicsGB.

From Home 2 The Games has been specifically designed to engage and encourage young people from all communities in the UK to explore their possibilities in Olympic and Paralympic sports that they may never have thought about getting involved with before, and consequently, discover untapped potential.

It is seeking to reach and engage 11-23-year-olds who are sporting or physically active to participate in Olympic sport and 15-34-year-olds with an impairment that makes them eligible to participate in Paralympic sport.

Officially launched today at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, potential athletes can now join From Home 2 The Games by completing three simple challenges and submitting their results at www.FromHome2TheGames.com. The challenges are:

• For Olympic sport, potential athletes need to complete a 20m sprint, a broad jump and an open skill challenge.
• For Paralympic sport, potential athletes need to complete a 20m push or sprint, a pick-up and throw and an open skill challenge.

As part of the process, potential athletes will be encouraged to upload their scores and fill in a short form about themselves and their sporting background. Submissions will close at midnight of Monday 6 September and then be reviewed by a team of expert sport scientists and coaches.

A select number of potential athletes will be invited to progress to the next stage of the process in the autumn with sessions held to further explore their opportunity to be a future Olympian or Paralympian and the possibility that a number will be selected to join National Governing Body development programmes.

Dame Katherine Grainger, Chair of UK Sport, said: “Our hope is that every young person that gets involved with From Home 2 The Games will have a fantastic, positive experience of sport and, wherever it might lead, will be better for having engaged with it. We are committed to discovering the nation’s exceptional sporting talent of tomorrow and building a more inclusive and diverse Olympic and Paralympic family.

“From Home 2 The Games is a brilliant example of the Olympic and Paralympic high-performance community coming together to give young people a chance that they may never have had otherwise. We want to get to a place where the only barrier to sporting success is potential, and so I would encourage people from all backgrounds and all corners of the UK to give this a go and have fun with it.”

From Home 2 The Games is digitally driven and working with seven athlete ambassadors who will utilise their channels to tell their own personal stories of engaging with sport, where their journey has taken them and some of the challenges they have faced along the way.

The seven athlete ambassadors are Adam Peaty, Ali Jawad, Bianca Walkden, Laura Muir, Kadeena Cox, Kye Whyte and Tegan Vincent-Cooke. Cox herself first engaged with UK Sport and the EIS as a potential athlete during the 2014 campaign.

Irrespective of any progression and selection towards National Governing Body development programmes, all of the young people who engage with From Home 2 The Games will be signposted as to how they might get involved with Olympic and Paralympic sport in their local areas and communities.

Olympic, world, European and Commonwealth champion Adam Peaty said: “To any young adult out there – what have you got to lose? That is exactly what I said to myself. You will learn so many things through sport that you don’t even know because you don’t know yourself yet. If you’ve had that struggle of not having enough money, not being able to do it, I think it makes that journey a little bit better. I got addicted to swimming straightaway. It was a fishhook – it grabbed me and pulled me in. It wasn’t until I started to race that the love really started to flourish.”

Para-dressage rider and multiple national champion Tegan Vincent-Cooke said: “I started riding when I was four-years-old and competing when I was eight or nine but it didn’t really click that I could take it further. It wasn’t until the London 2012 Paralympic Games, when I was in my mid-teens, and seeing people like me that I thought I could get there. The main reason why I didn’t see myself having a career in the sport from a young age was because there was no one out there like me that I could see. Now that I am currently working towards that goal, I do want to create a pathway so that people of all races and colours can join with me and enjoy the sport for what it is.”

Since 2007 UK Sport has worked in partnership with the English Institute of Sport and over 22 sports within the Olympic and Paralympic high-performance community to run 16 national searches for the athletes of the future, engaging more than 11,000 young people.

Among those athletes to have successfully made their way through a recruitment campaign and onto National Lottery-funded World Class Programmes are a number of Olympic and Paralympic champions and medallists including Lizzy Yarnold, Helen Glover, Lutalo Muhammad, Laura Deas, Jon-Allan Butterworth, Joanna Butterfield as well as Kadeena Cox.

The 19 National Governing Bodies involved in From Home 2 the Games are:

• Archery GB
• Badminton England
• GB Boccia
• GB Snowsport
• British Athletics
• British Canoeing
• British Cycling
• British Disability Fencing
• British Diving
• British Gymnastics
• British Para Table Tennis
• British Rowing
• British Shooting
• British Skeleton
• British Swimming
• British Triathlon
• British Weightlifting
• Lawn Tennis Association
• Pentathlon GB

Penny Briscoe, ParalympicsGB Chef de Mission at Tokyo 2020, said: “We hope this bold new initiative can tap into communities that we have not managed to regularly reach to unearth more talented Paralympic athletes of the future.

“Working in partnership with UK Sport, National Governing Bodies and the English Institute of Sport, we are confident this initiative can be a crucial first step in people fulfilling their dreams of competing at a Paralympic Games and ensure ParalympicsGB is truly representative of the whole nation.

“ParalympicsGB believe passionately in equality and inclusion and we recognise that we need to ensure that there are opportunities for all aspiring athletes throughout the UK, so please sign up and begin your Paralympic journey.”

John Alder, Head of Performance Pathways at UK Sport and the English Institute of Sport, said: “From Home 2 the Games represents an exciting chance for us to connect the next generation of sporting talent with an opportunity in Olympic and Paralympic sport.

“The campaign is about finding a connection from home, where many young people have had to spend a lot of time over the past year, to the Games, which are now just around the corner.

“This will be our first digitally led athlete engagement opportunity and we hope this will allow young people of all backgrounds to enter, creating the opportunity for future athletes from right across the UK to maybe one day compete at the very highest level.”