The Peak Sports Centre in Stirling played host to the 2019 RGK Wheelchair Basketball Regional Junior Festival, welcoming young people from across the county and providing them with an opportunity to proudly represent their regions.

Young players from five regions travelled to Stirling on Saturday 6th July to compete in both the under 13 and under 18 competitions, displaying a high level of enthusiasm and skills throughout the day. The event provides young aspiring players an opportunity to pit their skills against opponents from other areas of the country while also introducing players to the sport in a friendly and welcoming setting.

Tayside and Fife proved to hot to handle in both the under 18 and under 13 sections, claiming the top spot in each. The under 18 side, including GB Under 23 long list player Ben Leitch, defeated the experienced West side 32-17 in the final while a combined Grampian / East side ended the day in 3rd place after claiming victory 22-10 versus their Central counterparts. The under 13 squad from Tayside and finished top of the table with 3 wins from 3 and scoring over 30 points in each match.

The event was delivered by basketballscotland and supported by a number of key partners including RGK, CliniMed and the Lords Taverners with former GB Paralympians Lee Fawcett, Sinclair Thomas and Matt Byrne all present on the day to pass on their experience and knowledge of the sport.

With regular wheelchair basketball sessions in many regions of the country, the development of the game is looking bright and this was reinforced by the quality of play over the weekend. A summary of opportunities is listed below –

• East of Scotland – Lothian Phoenix
• Grampian – Grampian Flyers
• Tayside – Dundee Dragons
• West of Scotland – Glasgow Rocks

basketballscotland’s Disability Talent & Pathways Manager and event organiser Tina Gordon recognised the quality throughout the day stating, ‘It was great to see so many young wheelchair basketballers enjoying our sport, the future of wheelchair basketball throughout Scotland definitely looks bright’.

Scottish Disability Sport are also working in partnership with basketballscotland and several other partners to develop wheelchair sport opportunities in the country. A current example of this can be found in the East of Scotland with a week of activity being delivered in Edinburgh for school aged young people with a physical disability. More information can be found by clicking here.

Brits Jordanne Whiley, Alfie Hewett, Gordon Reid and Andy Lapthorne have all been drawn against one of the top two seeds in each of the men’s, women’s and quad singles wheelchair draws, which begin on Thursday at The Championships, Wimbledon.

Ten-time Grand Slam champion Whiley will begin her first Wimbledon ladies’ singles campaign since 2017 with a contest against her doubles partner and world No.2 Yui Kamiji of Japan, as the two meet at The Championships for the very first time. The last time they met at a Grand Slam was in the 2015 US Open final, a contest that Whiley won in three sets for her only Grand Slam singles title to date.

World No.8 Whiley, who last played at Wimbledon two years ago, when she was 11 weeks pregnant, said: “To be honest I didn’t really mind who I got in the draw. Obviously, it could have been better, but it could have been worse, too. The main thing is I’m confident, I feel like I’m playing well, and I’m just really excited to be back playing at Wimbledon and I can’t wait to get started.”

Whiley’s last appearance at Wimbledon also brought the current British No.1 and Kamiji their fourth successive ladies’ doubles title together. Whiley and Kamiji will play Dutch top seeds Diede de Groot and Aniek van Koot, the reigning Australian Open and Roland Garros champions, in this year’s semi-finals, due to take place on Friday.

Reid, the inaugural Wimbledon gentlemen’s wheelchair singles champion in 2016, will face world No.1 Shingo Kunieda of Japan in this year’s quarter-finals on Thursday. Reid and Kunieda’s last meeting at a Grand Slam was in last month’s Roland Garros semi-finals, with Reid prevailing in three sets to reach his first Grand Slam singles final since 2016.

Eleven-time Grand Slam champion Reid, who has moved up one place to men’s singles world No.7 this week, said: “I’m looking forward to the challenge of playing Shingo for the first time competitively on grass. He is top seed for a reason, but I feel I have the game to cause him a lot of problems on this surface.”

All four Brits on the LTA’s GB Wheelchair Tennis World Class Performance Programme who are playing at Wimbledon this year already have Grand Slam singles and doubles titles to their name.

Reigning US Open champion Alfie Hewett, winner of last month’s all-British men’s singles final on the grass courts at the Fever-Tree Championships, will play reigning Australian Open and Roland Garros champion Gustavo Fernandes of Argentina in his opening match at Wimbledon this year.

World No.3 Hewett said: “I’m excited to be back playing back at Wimbledon and I’m really looking forward to the start of play on Thursday, Gustavo is a tough opponent and I played him here two years ago, so I know what to expect, but I will go out and give it everything like I always do and what will be will be.”

Hewett and Reid will open their bid for a fourth successive Wimbledon gentlemen’s doubles title against French top seeds Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer, the duo the Brits beat in both the 2016 and 2017 finals at The Championships and last year’s US Open men’s doubles final.

World No.3 Andy Lapthorne will play world No.2 David Wagner of the United States when history is made on Thursday with the Wimbledon debut of a quad singles draw.

Lapthorne has already partnered Wagner to one success at Wimbledon after they paired up to win last year’s quad doubles exhibition match, the forerunner to the inclusion of competitive quad singles and doubles draws this year.

Eight-time Grand Slam champion Lapthorne, who beat Wagner in the 2014 US Open quad singles final to claim what is currently his sole Grand Slam singles title, said: “It’s a dream come true to be playing in the first quad singles and doubles events at Wimbledon. I’m really excited to play on Thursday and I’m just going to enjoy the moment and hopefully the
match goes my way.”

Lapthorne will partner Australian Dylan Alcott in the quad doubles, with the duo set to play Japan’s Koji Sugeno and Wagner for the inaugural Wimbledon quad doubles title, For news and updates from the wheelchair tennis draws and the fortunes of the Brits at Wimbledon, follow on Twitter @the_LTA and @WChairTennisGB.

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.

Photo courtesy of the Tennis Foundation

The 2019 IWBF Women’s European Wheelchair Basketball Championships took place between the 28 June and 8 July in Rotterdam, Netherlands and the event placed much significance on Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games qualification. 

Ayrshire born and former Lothian Phoenix player, Robyn Love, was the only Scottish representative in the squad but the 2016 Rio Paralympian was once again a central figure within the team. 

The GB side completed the tournament’s pool stage qualifying for the semi-finals having accrued three wins and two losses, one to Germany and a second to hosts the Netherlands. 

However, they faced Germany in the semi-finals two days after suffering a tough pool game loss to the team (48-61). In what was undoubtedly one of the most contested games of the Championships, Great Britain delivered a remarkable performance to come out on top 49-48 to claim their place in the final.   

The final saw Love, and her GB team mates, once again face the Netherlands, who are an extremely strong nation in the women’s game.  Once again it was a tough encounter against the side who had already defeated them in the group stages.  Sadly, the Brits succumbed to a 52-65 loss to the hosts but will be delighted to claim a silver medal. 

The Great Britain women’s team has grown and improved over the past few years and their performances are creating history. Within the space of 12 months they have claimed both a World and European championships’ silver medal, building on their 4th place finish at the 2016 Paralympic Games. 

GB’s #15 Robyn Love has been a key figure during this period of sustained success and summed up the feeling amongst the squad: 

“Incredibly proud – it’s hard to put into words at this moment about how I feel. When you do something you’ve never done before you can’t quite describe how that feels.” 

For more information please visit: 

Basketball Scotland 
http://basketballscotland.co.uk/  

British Wheelchair Basketball
www.britishwheelchairbasketball.co.uk  

The news we have all been waiting and hoping for is out on the street. The UK Sports Association for People with Learning Disability (UKSA) has announced that Sam Fernando from Gateside and Fife Athletic Club has been selected for Team GB, and on this occasion he is not heading back to Europe but to Brisbane, Australia.

Only two GB athletes will travel to the 2019 Global Games. Multi medalist, Declan Manning (Bungay, Suffolk) and double European medalist Sam Fernando will wear the British colours.

The Inas Global Games are scheduled 11th to 20th October 2019 in Brisbane, Australia. Hosted by Sports Inclusion Australia over 1000 athletes are expected to compete in 10 official Inas sports. The Global Games are the world’s largest high performance sports event for athletes with intellectual impairments. The Games are held every four years and there are over 80 countries in membership of Inas.

Congratulations from all of us in Disability Sport Fife to Sam on his second international selection in a matter of a couple of years. Well done to coach Ron Morrison on producing yet another world class athlete and to everybody in Fife Athletic Club and at Bell Baxter HS who has played a part in Sam’s amazing sporting journey to date. http://www.uksportsassociation.org/…/uksa-announce-cycling…/

Richard Brickley OBE MBE, Chairman DSF (SCIO) Board of Charity Trustees