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An eight strong British
team has been selected to compete in the biggest international
event of the year for visually impaired judo, the IBSA (International
Blind Sports Association) VI World Championships.
The Championships, which
were last held in 2007, will take place from the 23 rd -28 th
March in Antalya, Turkey.
Last week the GB team attended
a five day training camp at one of British Judo's recognised Performance
Centres, Ratho , in Edinburgh, where Beijing bronze medallist
Sam Ingram is based, for final preparations.
Sam will contest the -90kg
weight category at this event for the second time in his career.
After coming onto the scene in 2006, Sam won a silver medal at
the Worlds in 2007, showing his rapid development to elite judo.
Brother to Sam, Joe Ingram,
has been selected to contest the -100kg weight category. Joe won
a silver medal at the 2009 European Championships, his first since
returning to the sport after a two year gap. More recently, he
took a silver medal at the VI German Open and has been working
closely with British Judo’s newest Paralympic Coach Jean-Paul
Bell.
Joe said, “JP has been
a great help in developing my judo technique on an individual
level. The strength and conditioning that we have been doing is
really good and gives us an edge over some international players,
as we are physically fitter.”
Paralympian Ben Quilter
has previously finished in 5th place on two occasions at this
event and will once again compete in the -60kg competition. Quilter
started the year well, taking a gold medal at the VI German Open
and will be one to watch for a place on the medal rostrum.
Fellow veteran at this
level, Darren Harris, will take to the mat in the -66kg competition.
Completing the line up
in the men’s competition, Steve Turbitt will compete in the -81kg
category and youngster Daniel Powell will contest the -73kg competition,
with his brother Marc as a reserve.
Competing in the women’s
competition for the first time at this level is Lesley Reid (+78kg)
and Alex Farrington (-57kg). As well as competing for Great Britain
at international tournaments, Reid is a coach at Melbourn Judo
Club and won Children’s Coach of the year at British Judo’s Volunteer
Awards Ceremony last year.
Farrington joined the GB
VI squad after her club, Thornton Judo Club, put her in touch
with former Paralympic Performance Coach, Steve Gawthorpe, in
January 2009 who invited her to one of the talent days thereafter.
Paralympic Programme
Manager Dave Sanders commented on the selection,” We are all really
pleased to be able to select such a large visually impaired team
for the forthcoming World Championships in Turkey. Obviously some
players are more experienced than others but all of them have
a great chance of winning a medal - four of the team won medals
at the European Championships in 2009 and one player won silver
at the Junior Worlds in 2009.”
“The team has been preparing
well under the guidance of Jean-Paul Bell and have continued to
make significant improvements to their judo ability. The hard
work the team has been putting in is none better illustrated by
the effort and commitment they demonstrated in their final World’s
preparation camp at the Performance Institute in Ratho. All
players benefited from coming together as a team and having the
opportunity of training with Sam Ingram in his own training environment
in Ratho.”
“The World Championships
is the first real indicator of how our players are getting on
against the other leading nations around the World since Beijing
in 2008. I hope that we will be able to consolidate the excellent
results at the 2009 European Championships by all team members
putting in strong performances and of course, winning a number
of medals,” he added.
MEN’S TEAM:
-60KG BEN QUILTER
-66KG DARREN HARRIS
-73KG DANIEL POWELL
-81KG STEVE TURBITT
-90KG SAMUEL INGRAM
-100KG JOE INGRAM
WOMEN’S TEAM:
-57KG ALEX FARRINGTON
+78KG LESLEY REID
©
Mike Varey
Media Contact:
Nicola Turner
British Judo Association
(t) 01509 631692
nicola.turner@britishjudo.org.uk
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