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Maxine Ingram will make
a piece of history on 19th September when she becomes the first
British woman judo player to compete at a Paralympic Games.
Women's judo makes its Paralympic Games debut at the Athens Games
in September. Maxine is one of four visually-impaired judo players
selected by the British Paralympic Association today (Tuesday)
to compete at the Games - and the sole woman competitor.
The 23-year-old from Carmarthenshire, South Wales competes in
the under 63kg division in Athens, which takes place on 19th September.
She qualified a place for the division by finishing fifth at the
International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) World Championships
in Canada last year - despite ripping her knee ligaments in training
just before the competition.
"It's awesome to be going to Athens," she said. "I'm going there
to win. It would be brilliant to be the first British woman to
take part in the judo and to come away with gold.
"I know it will be really exciting, the adrenaline will be really
pumping when I get there," she added. "I'm determined to win a
medal."
Maxine, who got her black belt in February this year, is the only
member of an experienced four-strong British judo squad not to
have competed at a previous Paralympic Games. She travels to Athens
with Simon Jackson MBE, Darren Kail and Ian Rose.
Athens will be Simon's fifth Paralympic Games and he aims to add
to his already impressive haul of three gold medals and a bronze.
Simon was a hot favourite for a gold in the 81kg category at Sydney,
having won Paralympic titles in Seoul, Barcelona and Atlanta,
but lost his semi-final contest and had to settle for a bronze.
The 31-year-old Rochdale judo player has dropped down a weight
to make the most of his power to weight ratio and will compete
in the under-73kg division at Athens, the weight at which he won
a silver medal at the IBSA World Championships in Canada last
year.
"There is a long way to go to Athens and a lot to do, but I'm
on the right track," he said. "I'm more relaxed these days and
enjoying my judo."
Simon has been in good form recently, winning the under-73 category
at both the British Open and the German Open last month, and taking
gold at the Lithuanian Open at the weekend.
Darren Kail, a member of the Budokwai and TeamBath judo clubs,
got the nod for the Games in a competitive under-66kg class. He
was seventh in the same class at Sydney 2000 and seventh again
at the IBSA World Championships in Canada. He won a silver at
the Lithuanian Open at the weekend.
Three times Paralympian Ian Rose from High Wycombe represents
Great Britain in the over-100kg division. Ian won a bronze in
the under-86kg class at Atlanta 96 and finished just outside the
medals in fifth at Sydney.
All four members of the British judo squad benefited from attending
a BPA warm weather training camp in Cyprus as part of their preparations
for the Games.
Phil Lane, Britain's Chef de Mission for the Games, said: "I'd
like to congratulate our judo players on their selection for Athens
and wish them the very best in their preparations for the Games
and at the Games themselves."
Steve Pullen MBE, National Coach of the British visually-impaired
judo squad, said the British players will face some tough opposition
at Athens - but he is optimistic of their medal prospects.
"I'm very confident about our team. We've been training hard and
we have some real medal prospects," he said.
The full British visually-impaired judo squad for the
Athens Paralympic Games is:
(format: class: name - date of birth/home)
Men's unde r-66kg: Darren Kail 13.08.69/Enfield Men's under-73kg:
Simon Jackson MBE - 28.05.72/Rochdale, Lancs Men's 100+kg: Ian
Rose - 01.05.72/High Wycombe
Women's under-63kg: Maxine Ingram - 06.11.80/Kidwelly, South Wales
Britain will take a squad of about 200 athletes and around 100
support staff to the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games, which take
place between 17th to 28th September.
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