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The two year countdown
to the London 2012 Paralympic Games starts this Sunday 29th August,
which marks the day the Games will begin in just two years time.
This
week the Paralympic Development players from the squad, Lesley
Reid, Daniel and Marc Powell are attending a Paralympic Potentials
Camp, hosted by ParalympicsGB, the British Paralympic Association.
This
is the second of four such camps that ParalympicsGB are holding,
with the aim of exposing players who haven’t trained or competed
in a multisport environment to do so and experience the holding
camp feel. The 2012 Paralympic Games broadcasters Channel 4 are
also there filming and will launch their new programme ‘Inside
Incredible Athletes’ this Sunday at 9pm.
At
the camp with the team, Paralympic Programme Manager Dave Sanders
said, “The camp will provide our players with an opportunity to
meet elite athletes from other sports, familiarise themselves
with the holding camp feeling, attend media training, nutrition
workshops and other performance focused workshops, alongside their
normal routine of judo sessions and strength and conditioning.
“It’s
fantastic opportunity and experience for our players and the other
athletes in the multi sport environment.”
Meanwhile, the senior
players in the squad, Ben Quilter, Sam and Joe Ingram have been
training hard in Japan at Tokai University. Darren Harris is busy
preparing for the 2010 Welsh Open, a sighted event which will
take place on the two year marker this weekend.
Over the past two years,
the squad have produced some quality results, not just from the
senior players, but also from the players that are still developing
to a high level.
2009 saw an impressive
medal haul at the VI European Championships, including three silver
and two bronze medals. Beijing Paralympic bronze medallist Sam
Ingram scooped the second European medal of his career, a bronze,
and brother Joe achieved his best result since returning to the
sport after a two year gap by winning a silver medal.
Also winning silver,
-60kg fighter Ben Quilter took his fourth European Championship
medal. And Darren Harris won a bronze in the -66kg weight category.
Youngster Daniel Powell,
whose father was a two-time Paralympian, picked up a silver medal
at the 2009 VI World Youth Games, which coincided with the European
Championships.
2010 kicked off with
another top performance at the VI German Open, where Sam and Ben
won gold medals, Joe won silver and Alex Farrington, the only
female sent by British Judo, took a silver medal.
The 2010 VI World Championships
then followed and Britain fielded a six-strong team, including
new recruit Lesley Reid. The first day of competition saw Britain
triumph with Ben Quilter becoming the first British visually impaired
World Champion in twelve years.
Silver medals were then
won by Joe and Sam Ingram, followed by a bronze medal for Lesley
Reid, a career best for the fighter who was identified by British
Judo’s VI Talent Search just eight months before. Alex Farrington,
another player identified through a talent search, finished in
a credible 5th place.
The squad more recently
competed in the 2010 Venray International Tournament, a first
for the sighted event, and saw Sam Ingram, Ben Quilter and Lesley
Reid win gold medals.
The squad continue to
train at or out of the British Judo Performance Institute in Dartford
alongside the fully sighted squad under the guidance of their
Paralympic Performance Coach and the other support service providers.
The squad benefit from international squads visiting the Institute
and travel to other countries for training camps for high quality
randori.
In store for them next
year is the 2011 World Games held in Turkey in April and the European
Championships later in the year, plus a team will be selected
for the Scottish and English Opens (sighted events).
Lesley Reid will fight
this weekend in the 2010 British Open for Masters and the Welsh
Open, and said, “London 2012 is an opportunity for me that I will
never get again. I have hurdles to overcome in the next two years
and events to gain more experience at and I am going to concentrate
fully on them to get me ready for the Games.
Commenting on the squad’s
form, Sanders said, “ The senior players
have excelled in recent events but continue to strive for more
performance gains and have just completed a hard training camp
in Japan. They continue to improve, set an example to their team
mates and train and compete alongside their sighted counterparts
whilst still focusing on VI judo.
“The
newer members of the squad are developing well and demonstrating
potential to perform at the top level but need to work extremely
hard to bridge the gap between themselves and the senior players
on the team and of course World’s best.”
View a Channel 4 video
from the camp here: http://bit.ly/cEPRgN
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