Midlands players star in Nottingham at National Learning Disability Tennis Event
Players from the East Midlands and West Midlands largely dominated the medal podium at last weekend’s fifth annual National Learning Disability Tennis Event, which was organised by The Tennis Foundation in association with Special Olympics Great Britain and staged once again at the City of Nottingham Tennis Centre.
But with the record entry of 38 players divided in to seven Men’s Singles groups and two Women’s Singles Groups, each group consisting of players of like tennis ability, it was Kent newcomer Ben Wilson who swept the board in the Men’s Groups 1 Singles. Whitstable-based Wilson and his family found out about tennis for learning disabled players via The Tennis Foundation website and in his first tournament the 15-year-old comfortably won all of his four round robin singles matches. Meanwhile, Leicestershire’s Tom
Styles, a double gold medallist at last year’s Special Olympics World Summer Games in Shanghai, put in a personal best performance in Nottingham to beat Scotland’s Alistair Daniels for the first time, as Styles and Daniels collected silver and bronze respectively behind Wilson.
Scotland’s Stephen McEwan, who was a gold and bronze medallist in Shanghai, narrowly missed out on the medal podium in Nottingham, finishing fourth the Men’s Group 1 Singles.
Styles was one of number of players competing at last weekend’s event who train at West Bridgford Tennis Club in Nottinghamshire as part of the Special Olympics East Midlands Group. Between them the West Bridgford-based players won four gold medals, two silver medals and a bronze medal in singles events.
Leicestershire’s Patrick Cox and Nottinghamshire’s Joseph Eccles and Alex Eustace all finished their matches undefeated to clinch gold medals in the Men’s Group 2, Group 3 and Group 4 Singles events respectively.
Meanwhile, West Midlands players topped the podium in the Men’s Group 5 and Men’s Group 6 Singles events, with Birmingham’s Adam Deeley and Mohammed Bawazir each winning gold medals.
The Men’s Group 7 Singles gold medal went to North Wales, as Chris Burke from the Wrexham Special Olympics Group claimed the spoils, again finishing his round robin matches undefeated.
There were few surprises in the Women’s Group 1 Singles as two-time Special Olympics World Summer Games gold medallist Zara Jurenko, from Leicestershire, maintained her unbeaten record for a fifth time at the National Learning Disability Tennis Event to collect yet another gold medal.
Birmingham’s Melissa Brookes finished runner-up to Jurenko and then partnered the Leicestershire player to win gold in the Women’s Doubles, with Women’s Group 2 Singles gold and bronze medallists Lisa Edwards and Helen Hughes pairing up to ensure the Women’s Doubles silver medals went back to Wales.
While Jurenko won gold in both singles and doubles events, Wilson emulated her feat, partnering Wrexham’s Athony Aisher to win gold in the Men’s Group 1 Doubles, with Styles and Daniels winning silver.
Leicestershire duo Cox and Kieran Kauss clinched gold in the Men’s Group 2 Doubles to give Cox his second gold medal of the weekend. Meanwhile, Bawazir also went away from Nottingham with two gold medals after partnering fellow West Midlands player Lee Fellows to clinch gold in the Men’s Group 3 Doubles.
Last weekend’s event in Nottingham was the biggest tennis tournament for learning disabled players and one of the most significant sporting fixtures in the East Midlands sporting calendar ahead of the City of Leicester hosting the 2009 Special Olympics GB National Summer Games between 25th - 31st July.
For further press information and enquiries please contact Marshall Thomas, freelance Press Officer on behalf of The Tennis Foundation, on 0151 608 0316 or 07880 641 855 or email Marshall.Thomas@btinternet.com. Alternatively, please contact Becky Drew, Disability Tennis Development & Events Manager at The Tennis Foundation, on 07971 141 301 or email Becky.Drew@tennisfoundation.org.uk.
The Tennis Foundation (TF) is Britain’s foremost tennis charity and is leading the drive to develop and grow quality, fun tennis opportunities for all communities across the UK.
Driven by the belief that Tennis should be accessible to everyone - One Game All - the TF is making organised and affordable tennis accessible to people of all ages and abilities, year round.
This delivery is across all local authority existing tennis facilities including schools and parks in England, Scotland and Wales. To make this happen the Tennis Foundation works closely with the LTA, local authorities, education providers and other local partners, with a focus on tennis coaches working at a local level.
For further information please visit www.tennisfoundation.org.uk