Provided by UK Deaf Sport
Heathrow Airport have kindly agreed to reserve an area in Terminal 3 Arrivals for Team GB supporters who would like to greet our athletes when they touch down on Thursday morning.
It's at a very early time in the UK - 6.20am - but your presence would give such a boost to our athletes after more than three weeks away in most cases.
Keep watching this site for further details.
Tuesday 15 September 2009
Monday 14 September 2009
Day 9 Report
Provided by UK Deaf Sport
Badminton
Disappointment for Bagga
Rajeev Bagga's quest for gold faltered at the final hurdle when he was narrowly beaten (16-21, 21-17, 20-22) by Artemy Karpov of Russia.
The result is Bagga's first defeat to any Deaf competitor in 20 years of competition and his silver medal follows Singles gold at the previous five Deaflympics.
Bagga was a point away from glory at 20-19. But the Russian was returning Rajeev's smashes strongly and made it 20-all, before edging ahead to 21.
On the vital point, Karpov played a light drop serve which Bagga left, and it ooked to have landed out. But the umpire judged that the shuttlecock had fallen onto the line and Karpov fell to his knees in triumph.
Karpov - on a reputed €100,000 to win the title - took the first set when a netted Bagga backhand gave him a match point, which he took.
Immediately after the set, Team GB Badminton Manager had to stride onto court to ask for a third Russian official to be removed, as only two are permitted courtside.
In the second set, Bagga went from 11-15 down to 18-15 ahead and took the set five points later when he had Karpov straining and failing with a shot from the floor.
The quality of the badminton on show was superb and the two players exchanged the early points with some fierce rallies in the final set.
Karpov stayed in touch with Bagga throughout the last set and it really was very close to call. The British fans in the gallery were about to explode when Bagga reached 20 points but it was not to be.
Rajeev - who first won gold in Christchurch 1989 and carried his run through Sofia 1993, Copenhagen 1997. Rome 2001 and Melbourne 2005 - afterwards donated his silver medal to Lithuanian competitor Tomas DovyDaitis who had badly damaged his ankle in competition.
As one onlooker commented, "Rajeev may have lost the gold but he still has a heart of gold".
Team GB Badminton were in unison afterwards to point out that 22 year-old Karpov had been extremely well supported by the Russian structure. A five-month training programme was fully funded and his salary was understood to be covered during that period.
There was also disappointment in the Men's Doubles as Bagga and Carl Sadler lost their Bronze medal play-off match to a Korean pairing Lee and Sin in three sets.
Athletics
Serena Blackburn made a late surge up the field to bag a bronze for GB in the Women's Marathon.
Serena had finished third in the most recent World Deaf Athletics Championships and proved that result was no fluke by passing three runners in the last five kilometres to move from sixth place up to the bronze position.
Serena had left the Team GB base before 4am for the 6am start outside Taipei but this inconvenience was worth enduring to be on the podium.
Team GB Athletics Manager Brian Kokoruwe was delighted with Serena's "amazing determination" and the medal caps a good haul for his squad, who have two silvers and two bronzes from Taipei.
Timothy Stones was one of the runners to complete the Men's Marathon. A number of runners dropped out in the punishing heat and humidity.
Brian K explained that Timothy had travelled to Taipei from his base in South Africa, "where it is a completely different climate at the moment, so he's done really well to stick it out in today's conditions".
Football
Team GB continued their recent good form to finish top of the 9-16th play-offs. In their last game of the Deaflympics, the 2005 Champions beat Spain 3-0.
An own goal set GB on their way and further strikes from Jamie Clarke and Chris Beech sealed a comfortable win and left the squad thinking of what might have been.
Table Tennis
Team GB completed their matches today (Andrew Calloway narrowly losing 3-2) but the squad will put Taipei 2009 down to experience as they look ahead to Athens 2013.
Badminton
Disappointment for Bagga
Rajeev Bagga's quest for gold faltered at the final hurdle when he was narrowly beaten (16-21, 21-17, 20-22) by Artemy Karpov of Russia.
The result is Bagga's first defeat to any Deaf competitor in 20 years of competition and his silver medal follows Singles gold at the previous five Deaflympics.
Bagga was a point away from glory at 20-19. But the Russian was returning Rajeev's smashes strongly and made it 20-all, before edging ahead to 21.
On the vital point, Karpov played a light drop serve which Bagga left, and it ooked to have landed out. But the umpire judged that the shuttlecock had fallen onto the line and Karpov fell to his knees in triumph.
Karpov - on a reputed €100,000 to win the title - took the first set when a netted Bagga backhand gave him a match point, which he took.
Immediately after the set, Team GB Badminton Manager had to stride onto court to ask for a third Russian official to be removed, as only two are permitted courtside.
In the second set, Bagga went from 11-15 down to 18-15 ahead and took the set five points later when he had Karpov straining and failing with a shot from the floor.
The quality of the badminton on show was superb and the two players exchanged the early points with some fierce rallies in the final set.
Karpov stayed in touch with Bagga throughout the last set and it really was very close to call. The British fans in the gallery were about to explode when Bagga reached 20 points but it was not to be.
Rajeev - who first won gold in Christchurch 1989 and carried his run through Sofia 1993, Copenhagen 1997. Rome 2001 and Melbourne 2005 - afterwards donated his silver medal to Lithuanian competitor Tomas DovyDaitis who had badly damaged his ankle in competition.
As one onlooker commented, "Rajeev may have lost the gold but he still has a heart of gold".
Team GB Badminton were in unison afterwards to point out that 22 year-old Karpov had been extremely well supported by the Russian structure. A five-month training programme was fully funded and his salary was understood to be covered during that period.
There was also disappointment in the Men's Doubles as Bagga and Carl Sadler lost their Bronze medal play-off match to a Korean pairing Lee and Sin in three sets.
Athletics
Serena Blackburn made a late surge up the field to bag a bronze for GB in the Women's Marathon.
Serena had finished third in the most recent World Deaf Athletics Championships and proved that result was no fluke by passing three runners in the last five kilometres to move from sixth place up to the bronze position.
Serena had left the Team GB base before 4am for the 6am start outside Taipei but this inconvenience was worth enduring to be on the podium.
Team GB Athletics Manager Brian Kokoruwe was delighted with Serena's "amazing determination" and the medal caps a good haul for his squad, who have two silvers and two bronzes from Taipei.
Timothy Stones was one of the runners to complete the Men's Marathon. A number of runners dropped out in the punishing heat and humidity.
Brian K explained that Timothy had travelled to Taipei from his base in South Africa, "where it is a completely different climate at the moment, so he's done really well to stick it out in today's conditions".
Football
Team GB continued their recent good form to finish top of the 9-16th play-offs. In their last game of the Deaflympics, the 2005 Champions beat Spain 3-0.
An own goal set GB on their way and further strikes from Jamie Clarke and Chris Beech sealed a comfortable win and left the squad thinking of what might have been.
Table Tennis
Team GB completed their matches today (Andrew Calloway narrowly losing 3-2) but the squad will put Taipei 2009 down to experience as they look ahead to Athens 2013.
Day 8 Report
Provided by UK Deaf Sport
Swimming
Another medal for Hannah Fitton!
A sensational swim by multiple medal winner Hannah Fitton gave Team GB their third silver of the Games this evening.
Hannah's time of 09:24.91 for the 800m Freestyle was 36 seconds better than her last recorded swim at that time in Deaf competition and means she now has a silver medal plus three bronze medals - half of Team GB's total.
Hannah's medal haul now reads:
* 200m Freestyle (bronze)
* 400m Freestyle (bronze)
* 800m Freestyle (silver)
* 200m Individual Medley (bronze)
"What a wonderful bonus to have on the last day of competition", beamed Swimming Team Manager Vincent Dickson.
Hannah - born in Scunthorpe - flies to her current home of Wisconsin, USA early tomorrow morning (14th) but will have the good wishes of GB Teammates ringing in her ears after her exhilarating performances at these Games.
Details of an interview with Team GB's star performer will appear shortly.
Badminton
Rajeev Bagga is one step away from landing his sixth consecutive individual Badminton gold when he booked his place in the final in front of a big British crowd at the Taipei Gymnasium this afternoon.
Bagga's opponent, Cheang Hok Teh of Malaysia was a familiar face - he has lost previous Deaflympics finals to the former India player.
Team GB Badminton coaches Denis Cleary and Kevin Harper were impressed afterwards:
"Teh is a very good player", they agreed. Harper went on: "But Rajeev has played at a high standard all the way through this tournament and deserves to be in the final".
After 90 minutes break, during which Rajeev was given a revitalising massage by GB Badminton sports physio Caroline Bird, it was on with the Doubles.
Things looked to be going GB's way when Bagga and Carl Sadler took the first set 21-13.
Their Russian opponents changed their tactics for the next set and some aggressive play saw Karpov and Efremov level the tie with a 21-10 win.
The decisive final set saw some extremely high quality badminton, which could have only impressed the visiting British Olympic Committee delegate who was observing proceedings.
The two pairs traded points, and when it looked like the Russians would get too far ahead at 10-7, Bagga played some sublime shots right onto the edges of the court to haul GB level, then in front, 11-10.
The tension cranked up with every point and by 19-19, it was almost unbearable.
Karpov and Efremov wasted one chance at 20-19 but made no mistake with the next and go on to play Malaysia (with Teh) in the final.
Bagga and Sadler aim to oust Korea for a bronze medal in the third/fourth play-off tomorrow.
But the main event of the day will be what promises to be a historic achievement by Bagga, when he plays Karpov for the gold medal at 2pm local time.
Athletics
Team GB's Candy Hawkins just missed out on the medals when she ran the 5000m on an eventful night in Taipei Stadium.
The Gold medal was never in doubt from early on as Australian runner Melinda Vernon lapped the field, breaking the world Deaf record by nearly 40 seconds in the process.
Candy, running a solid race, appeared to have finished fifth.
However, it was soon revealed that a mistake by the Polish entrant Zareba, who finished a lap too early, meant that she was disqualified from third place.
The revised result placed Candy fourth, with a personal best time of 19:15.70.
While the race was being run, the crowd roared its approval when a Venezuelan athlete registered a world Deaf record throw of 73.47m in the Men's Javelin.
Football
Team GB Women missed out on the bronze medal when they lost by a single goal to Russia.
The Russians, who had beaten GB 6-2 earlier in the competition, were kept quiet by some solid defending and close marking.
The goal came in slightly controversial circumstances when a water break was given with Russia about to take a corner kick.
When play resumed, a distracted GB defence could not clear their lines and the goal was conceded in a
penalty box scramble.
Table Tennis
There was a glimmer of hope for Team GB this morning when lead player Andrew Calloway won his morning game to maintain a 100% record in the Group stages of the Singles.
Andrew, as did Nicholas Gilmour and James Meyers, had to face superior opposition in the afternoon/evening matches and there will be no GB representative in the knockout stages.
Swimming
Another medal for Hannah Fitton!
A sensational swim by multiple medal winner Hannah Fitton gave Team GB their third silver of the Games this evening.
Hannah's time of 09:24.91 for the 800m Freestyle was 36 seconds better than her last recorded swim at that time in Deaf competition and means she now has a silver medal plus three bronze medals - half of Team GB's total.
Hannah's medal haul now reads:
* 200m Freestyle (bronze)
* 400m Freestyle (bronze)
* 800m Freestyle (silver)
* 200m Individual Medley (bronze)
"What a wonderful bonus to have on the last day of competition", beamed Swimming Team Manager Vincent Dickson.
Hannah - born in Scunthorpe - flies to her current home of Wisconsin, USA early tomorrow morning (14th) but will have the good wishes of GB Teammates ringing in her ears after her exhilarating performances at these Games.
Details of an interview with Team GB's star performer will appear shortly.
Badminton
Rajeev Bagga is one step away from landing his sixth consecutive individual Badminton gold when he booked his place in the final in front of a big British crowd at the Taipei Gymnasium this afternoon.
Bagga's opponent, Cheang Hok Teh of Malaysia was a familiar face - he has lost previous Deaflympics finals to the former India player.
Team GB Badminton coaches Denis Cleary and Kevin Harper were impressed afterwards:
"Teh is a very good player", they agreed. Harper went on: "But Rajeev has played at a high standard all the way through this tournament and deserves to be in the final".
After 90 minutes break, during which Rajeev was given a revitalising massage by GB Badminton sports physio Caroline Bird, it was on with the Doubles.
Things looked to be going GB's way when Bagga and Carl Sadler took the first set 21-13.
Their Russian opponents changed their tactics for the next set and some aggressive play saw Karpov and Efremov level the tie with a 21-10 win.
The decisive final set saw some extremely high quality badminton, which could have only impressed the visiting British Olympic Committee delegate who was observing proceedings.
The two pairs traded points, and when it looked like the Russians would get too far ahead at 10-7, Bagga played some sublime shots right onto the edges of the court to haul GB level, then in front, 11-10.
The tension cranked up with every point and by 19-19, it was almost unbearable.
Karpov and Efremov wasted one chance at 20-19 but made no mistake with the next and go on to play Malaysia (with Teh) in the final.
Bagga and Sadler aim to oust Korea for a bronze medal in the third/fourth play-off tomorrow.
But the main event of the day will be what promises to be a historic achievement by Bagga, when he plays Karpov for the gold medal at 2pm local time.
Athletics
Team GB's Candy Hawkins just missed out on the medals when she ran the 5000m on an eventful night in Taipei Stadium.
The Gold medal was never in doubt from early on as Australian runner Melinda Vernon lapped the field, breaking the world Deaf record by nearly 40 seconds in the process.
Candy, running a solid race, appeared to have finished fifth.
However, it was soon revealed that a mistake by the Polish entrant Zareba, who finished a lap too early, meant that she was disqualified from third place.
The revised result placed Candy fourth, with a personal best time of 19:15.70.
While the race was being run, the crowd roared its approval when a Venezuelan athlete registered a world Deaf record throw of 73.47m in the Men's Javelin.
Football
Team GB Women missed out on the bronze medal when they lost by a single goal to Russia.
The Russians, who had beaten GB 6-2 earlier in the competition, were kept quiet by some solid defending and close marking.
The goal came in slightly controversial circumstances when a water break was given with Russia about to take a corner kick.
When play resumed, a distracted GB defence could not clear their lines and the goal was conceded in a
penalty box scramble.
Table Tennis
There was a glimmer of hope for Team GB this morning when lead player Andrew Calloway won his morning game to maintain a 100% record in the Group stages of the Singles.
Andrew, as did Nicholas Gilmour and James Meyers, had to face superior opposition in the afternoon/evening matches and there will be no GB representative in the knockout stages.
Day 7 Report
Provided by UK Deaf Sport
Tennis
Gold for Anthony Sinclair and Catherine Graham!
It was Gold at last for Anthony Sinclair and Catherine Graham as their tremendous display saw them triumph in the Mixed Doubles final.
Sinclair and Graham broke the stranglehold on the title held by Italy's Gianpaolo Damiani and Barbara Oddone, who suffered their first loss since Christchurch 1989.
Sinclair, 25, and 26-year-old Graham edged the first set against the Italians, but dropped serve in the final game of the second set to take the match to a decider.
However, after finishing fourth in the mixed doubles at the last two Deaflympics, Sinclair and Graham were not about to end with any hard luck stories this this time and secured a double break to give them a 5-1 cushion in the final set.
Although the Italians recovered one break, the British second seeds steadied themselves and held their nerve to clinch Britain's first Deaflympics mixed doubles gold medal for more than 50 years.
Men's Doubles pairing Lewis Fletcher and Darren O'Donnell could have joined their fellow players on the medals board but were beaten by two sets to love in the 3rd/4th play off.
Athletics
Lauren claims a silver medal in 800m!
Lauren Peffers added a second silver medal to her collection when she grabbed second place in the Women's 800m in Taipei Stadium on Saturday night.
Lauren's collection now contains one gold and three silvers at the two Deaflympics she has taken part in - Melbourne 2005 and Taipei 2009.
All those hard nights of training at Edinburgh Athletics Club paid off for Lauren as she toughed out some early jostling in the pack to be in contention at the half-way mark.
However, Lauren appeared to be struggling and on the final bend, it looked like she could miss out on a medal altogether.
But the Scot dug in and summoned up one last burst of pace and somehow, somehow snatched silver on the line.
Lauren crumpled on the track after the finish, looking totally spent. And there was a reason:
"I was in so much pain", Lauren confessed afterwards and Team GB athletics Team Manager Brian Kokoruwe quickly discovered that his runner had been feeling an injury before the race.
Whatever the cause, it was nothing short of a magnificent recovery which sparked happy scenes amongst the British supporters in the stadium.
Earlier in the evening, Lauren's fellow Scot John Ruddy was running in his first-ever Deaflympics final - the 200m.
Ruddy, the youngest in the final line-up, looked sharp and was delighted to shave a hundredth of a second off his personal best when finishing fifth.
On this form, 18-year old Glaswegian Ruddy will definitely be challenging at Athens 2013 and Kokoruwe is convinced that the sprinter "has a bright future".
On a busy night in the stadium, James Schofield also achieved a PB as GB's representative in the High Jump.
Despite suffering a broken nose in training last week, Schofield looked smooth and composed in his early leaps.
The eventual medal winners jumped to a very high standard, going for the Deaf World Record and there was no shame at all in James's jump of 1.93 metres.
Badminton
Rajeev Bagga had a busy day on court but remains on track for gold in the Men's Singles and Doubles.
Bagga sailed through his Singles last 16 and quarter final matches despite German Oliver Witte taking a 11-4 lead in the latter match.
While Bagga and Carl Sadler were taking three sets to beat their Chinese opponents in their morning Mens Doubles match, Dominic Caswell and Alexander Hurley were on their way out, having lost 2-0 to an Austrian pair.
Late in the afternoon, the Bagga/Sadler combination had to fight all the way in a tough match against Za and Lu (China) before securing a semi-final berth.
Earlier, there was no joy for GB at Mixed Doubles when all of our three pairings were knocked out of the competition.
Table Tennis
Team Manager and lead player Andrew Calloway gave GB a boost when he won his first group match of the Men's Singles this evening.
A clean sweep 3-0 against Rene Ganahl of Austria made up for the losses suffered by James Meyers and Nicholas Gilmour and the withdrawal from competition of Martin Strutt.
Next up for Calloway are matches against South African and Chinese opposition tomorrow at 10.30am and 2.30pm Taipei time.
Football
Team GB made sure of at least 10th place in the competition after comphrensively beating Denmark 5-1 in their last match of the Games.
Their next match will be against Spain - the winner will claim 9th place.
Tennis
Gold for Anthony Sinclair and Catherine Graham!
It was Gold at last for Anthony Sinclair and Catherine Graham as their tremendous display saw them triumph in the Mixed Doubles final.
Sinclair and Graham broke the stranglehold on the title held by Italy's Gianpaolo Damiani and Barbara Oddone, who suffered their first loss since Christchurch 1989.
Sinclair, 25, and 26-year-old Graham edged the first set against the Italians, but dropped serve in the final game of the second set to take the match to a decider.
However, after finishing fourth in the mixed doubles at the last two Deaflympics, Sinclair and Graham were not about to end with any hard luck stories this this time and secured a double break to give them a 5-1 cushion in the final set.
Although the Italians recovered one break, the British second seeds steadied themselves and held their nerve to clinch Britain's first Deaflympics mixed doubles gold medal for more than 50 years.
Men's Doubles pairing Lewis Fletcher and Darren O'Donnell could have joined their fellow players on the medals board but were beaten by two sets to love in the 3rd/4th play off.
Athletics
Lauren claims a silver medal in 800m!
Lauren Peffers added a second silver medal to her collection when she grabbed second place in the Women's 800m in Taipei Stadium on Saturday night.
Lauren's collection now contains one gold and three silvers at the two Deaflympics she has taken part in - Melbourne 2005 and Taipei 2009.
All those hard nights of training at Edinburgh Athletics Club paid off for Lauren as she toughed out some early jostling in the pack to be in contention at the half-way mark.
However, Lauren appeared to be struggling and on the final bend, it looked like she could miss out on a medal altogether.
But the Scot dug in and summoned up one last burst of pace and somehow, somehow snatched silver on the line.
Lauren crumpled on the track after the finish, looking totally spent. And there was a reason:
"I was in so much pain", Lauren confessed afterwards and Team GB athletics Team Manager Brian Kokoruwe quickly discovered that his runner had been feeling an injury before the race.
Whatever the cause, it was nothing short of a magnificent recovery which sparked happy scenes amongst the British supporters in the stadium.
Earlier in the evening, Lauren's fellow Scot John Ruddy was running in his first-ever Deaflympics final - the 200m.
Ruddy, the youngest in the final line-up, looked sharp and was delighted to shave a hundredth of a second off his personal best when finishing fifth.
On this form, 18-year old Glaswegian Ruddy will definitely be challenging at Athens 2013 and Kokoruwe is convinced that the sprinter "has a bright future".
On a busy night in the stadium, James Schofield also achieved a PB as GB's representative in the High Jump.
Despite suffering a broken nose in training last week, Schofield looked smooth and composed in his early leaps.
The eventual medal winners jumped to a very high standard, going for the Deaf World Record and there was no shame at all in James's jump of 1.93 metres.
Badminton
Rajeev Bagga had a busy day on court but remains on track for gold in the Men's Singles and Doubles.
Bagga sailed through his Singles last 16 and quarter final matches despite German Oliver Witte taking a 11-4 lead in the latter match.
While Bagga and Carl Sadler were taking three sets to beat their Chinese opponents in their morning Mens Doubles match, Dominic Caswell and Alexander Hurley were on their way out, having lost 2-0 to an Austrian pair.
Late in the afternoon, the Bagga/Sadler combination had to fight all the way in a tough match against Za and Lu (China) before securing a semi-final berth.
Earlier, there was no joy for GB at Mixed Doubles when all of our three pairings were knocked out of the competition.
Table Tennis
Team Manager and lead player Andrew Calloway gave GB a boost when he won his first group match of the Men's Singles this evening.
A clean sweep 3-0 against Rene Ganahl of Austria made up for the losses suffered by James Meyers and Nicholas Gilmour and the withdrawal from competition of Martin Strutt.
Next up for Calloway are matches against South African and Chinese opposition tomorrow at 10.30am and 2.30pm Taipei time.
Football
Team GB made sure of at least 10th place in the competition after comphrensively beating Denmark 5-1 in their last match of the Games.
Their next match will be against Spain - the winner will claim 9th place.
Day 6 Report
Provided by UK Deaf Sport
Swimming
There was great news for Team GB this evening when 16 year-old Hannah Fitton scooped her third bronze medal of the Games.
Hannah surged through the field in the 200m Freestyle event to land third place and add another medal to the two she won for GB earlier this week.
Hannah's bronze collection is now 200m Freestyle, 400m Freestyle and 200m Individual Medley but her third success needed a slice of luck.
Team GB Swimming Manager Vincent Dickson explained:
“Hannah made a mistake in her morning heat, which meant she was only able to finish ninth in the list of qualifiers.
“However, a withdrawal meant that she moved up into eighth place and in the race itself she came in from absolutely nowhere to grab the bronze.”
“In doing that, she broke the British record by three seconds!”
Athletics
GB had three representatives in the Women's Hammer Final at Taipei Stadium this evening but it was Joanne Davison who gained a place on the podium.
Joanne, a gold medallist at the 2005 Games had to settle for a bronze this time with 47.06 metre. Gold was taken with a huge throw (60.27) from the Norwegian newcomer Trude Raad.
Football
Team GB Women will have to aim for a repeat of their Melbourne bronze medal after losing their semi final 2-1 to holders USA.
Two quick USA moves saw GB 2-0 down at the interval but the second half was a different story as the British team had the better of the play.
USA were restricted to one meaningful shot on goal and substitute Catherine Eyley won a free kick on the right with less than five minutes to go.
Eyley got up to cross into the box, where captain Esther Maycock powered home a header.
The game was on but despite the best efforts of Eyley and a tireless Camilla Willis, the holders held onto reach the final, where they will play Germany who stormed back from 3-0 down to beat Russia, 4-3.
Team Manager George McGowan was frustrated afterwards: "USA had four days' rest (because of a smaller group) - we only had one day. We were very close".
GB will be hoping for revenge on Russia after losing 6-2 to them in their final group game earlier this week.
Badminton
Team GB's two pairings moved through to the next round of the Mixed Doubles event as the day was closing here in Taipei.
Carl Sadler and Andrea Hardwick were composed as they beat their French opponents in two sets.
At the same time on a nearby court, new pairing Xander Hurley and Kirstie Allen had to pull out all the stops to beat their Indian challengers in a tough last set.
Earlier, it had been the Battle of Britain when Dominic Caswell took on the might of Rajeev Bagga in the Men's Singles.
Bagga swiftly moved on with his aim of a sixth straight title but he won't be joined by Hurley who lost against Muller of Switzerland.
Caswell and Hurley regrouped in the afternoon to make it through in the Men's Doubles but Hardwick and Allen went out of the Women's event in a morning match.
Table Tennis
Team GB were in doubles action this evening, with Andrew Calloway and Nicholas Gilmour playing an Italian pairing. Calloway and Gilmour took a game from the opposition but 1-4 was the final score.
Swimming
There was great news for Team GB this evening when 16 year-old Hannah Fitton scooped her third bronze medal of the Games.
Hannah surged through the field in the 200m Freestyle event to land third place and add another medal to the two she won for GB earlier this week.
Hannah's bronze collection is now 200m Freestyle, 400m Freestyle and 200m Individual Medley but her third success needed a slice of luck.
Team GB Swimming Manager Vincent Dickson explained:
“Hannah made a mistake in her morning heat, which meant she was only able to finish ninth in the list of qualifiers.
“However, a withdrawal meant that she moved up into eighth place and in the race itself she came in from absolutely nowhere to grab the bronze.”
“In doing that, she broke the British record by three seconds!”
Athletics
GB had three representatives in the Women's Hammer Final at Taipei Stadium this evening but it was Joanne Davison who gained a place on the podium.
Joanne, a gold medallist at the 2005 Games had to settle for a bronze this time with 47.06 metre. Gold was taken with a huge throw (60.27) from the Norwegian newcomer Trude Raad.
Football
Team GB Women will have to aim for a repeat of their Melbourne bronze medal after losing their semi final 2-1 to holders USA.
Two quick USA moves saw GB 2-0 down at the interval but the second half was a different story as the British team had the better of the play.
USA were restricted to one meaningful shot on goal and substitute Catherine Eyley won a free kick on the right with less than five minutes to go.
Eyley got up to cross into the box, where captain Esther Maycock powered home a header.
The game was on but despite the best efforts of Eyley and a tireless Camilla Willis, the holders held onto reach the final, where they will play Germany who stormed back from 3-0 down to beat Russia, 4-3.
Team Manager George McGowan was frustrated afterwards: "USA had four days' rest (because of a smaller group) - we only had one day. We were very close".
GB will be hoping for revenge on Russia after losing 6-2 to them in their final group game earlier this week.
Badminton
Team GB's two pairings moved through to the next round of the Mixed Doubles event as the day was closing here in Taipei.
Carl Sadler and Andrea Hardwick were composed as they beat their French opponents in two sets.
At the same time on a nearby court, new pairing Xander Hurley and Kirstie Allen had to pull out all the stops to beat their Indian challengers in a tough last set.
Earlier, it had been the Battle of Britain when Dominic Caswell took on the might of Rajeev Bagga in the Men's Singles.
Bagga swiftly moved on with his aim of a sixth straight title but he won't be joined by Hurley who lost against Muller of Switzerland.
Caswell and Hurley regrouped in the afternoon to make it through in the Men's Doubles but Hardwick and Allen went out of the Women's event in a morning match.
Table Tennis
Team GB were in doubles action this evening, with Andrew Calloway and Nicholas Gilmour playing an Italian pairing. Calloway and Gilmour took a game from the opposition but 1-4 was the final score.
Days 5 Report
Provided by UK Deaf Sport
Tennis
Team GB are through to the final of the Mixed Doubles Event after a superb performance from Anthony Sinclair and Catherine Graham
The duo guaranteed themselves at least a silver medal when they beat Japan's Tetsuya Matsushita and Yachiyo Abe 6-1, 6-1.
The British second seeds will play Italian top seeds Gianpaolo Damiani and Barbara Oddone in the final.
The Italians are unbeaten in the mixed doubles at any Deaflympics since 1989.
"We're thrilled to be in the final", Sinclair commented afterwards.
"Catherine and I are going to try our hardest to break that (the Italians') hold on the trophy".
Saturday's final will take place in front of the TV cameras on Centre Court, where Lewis Fletcher and Darren O'Donnell exited at the semi-final stage today in the Men's Doubles.
Football
Team GB Men put the disappointment of not making the medal stages behind them by thumping South Africa 5-0 in the 9-16th play-off.
In slightly cooler conditions than in previous games, GB took the lead via Nick Gregory.
Matthew Byfield, and shortly afterwards, Daniel Hogan with a great shot put GB in control of the game at 3-0.
Oliver Monksfield returned from suspension to get in on the act, adding the fourth before Steven Gardiner put the seal on things with a header.
"Four out of my nine goals for GB have been headers", Gardiner remarked modestly afterwards. "So I suppose I'm quite good at them!"
Badminton
Taipei schools have each been allocated a nation at the Deaflympics to support and Team GB are being backed by the kids from Dun Hua Junior High School.
Our friends with their flags were out in force today at the badminton venue this afternoon, cheering on Team GB in their Men's singles matches.
Carl Sadler won his game when his opponent retired but his exit from the competion overall allows him to focus on the doubles, where he will partner Rajeev Bagga.
"I rather enjoyed it", said a surprised Sadler of the attention he got today.
"They were even taking photographs of me as I was leaving the court, but it was great".
Xander Hurley is through to the last 32, as is Dominic Caswell, who has an all-British tie against Bagga tomorrow.
Kirstie Allen and Caroline Bird were in Ladies Singles action this morning but both players lost their matches.
Tennis
Team GB are through to the final of the Mixed Doubles Event after a superb performance from Anthony Sinclair and Catherine Graham
The duo guaranteed themselves at least a silver medal when they beat Japan's Tetsuya Matsushita and Yachiyo Abe 6-1, 6-1.
The British second seeds will play Italian top seeds Gianpaolo Damiani and Barbara Oddone in the final.
The Italians are unbeaten in the mixed doubles at any Deaflympics since 1989.
"We're thrilled to be in the final", Sinclair commented afterwards.
"Catherine and I are going to try our hardest to break that (the Italians') hold on the trophy".
Saturday's final will take place in front of the TV cameras on Centre Court, where Lewis Fletcher and Darren O'Donnell exited at the semi-final stage today in the Men's Doubles.
Football
Team GB Men put the disappointment of not making the medal stages behind them by thumping South Africa 5-0 in the 9-16th play-off.
In slightly cooler conditions than in previous games, GB took the lead via Nick Gregory.
Matthew Byfield, and shortly afterwards, Daniel Hogan with a great shot put GB in control of the game at 3-0.
Oliver Monksfield returned from suspension to get in on the act, adding the fourth before Steven Gardiner put the seal on things with a header.
"Four out of my nine goals for GB have been headers", Gardiner remarked modestly afterwards. "So I suppose I'm quite good at them!"
Badminton
Taipei schools have each been allocated a nation at the Deaflympics to support and Team GB are being backed by the kids from Dun Hua Junior High School.
Our friends with their flags were out in force today at the badminton venue this afternoon, cheering on Team GB in their Men's singles matches.
Carl Sadler won his game when his opponent retired but his exit from the competion overall allows him to focus on the doubles, where he will partner Rajeev Bagga.
"I rather enjoyed it", said a surprised Sadler of the attention he got today.
"They were even taking photographs of me as I was leaving the court, but it was great".
Xander Hurley is through to the last 32, as is Dominic Caswell, who has an all-British tie against Bagga tomorrow.
Kirstie Allen and Caroline Bird were in Ladies Singles action this morning but both players lost their matches.
Thursday 10 September 2009
Day 4 report
Provided by UK Deaf Sport
Badminton
Rajeev Bagga started his quest for a record sixth straight consecutive Deaflympic gold today.
He was first in action this morning, winning in two sets before returning in the afternoon (the early stages of Singles in Badminton are played in 'round robin' format) to again win in two sets.
Andrea Hardwick and Xander Hurley were the pick of the other players, taking their higher-ranked opponents to close games.
Athletics
Team GB's field athletes competed for the first time in these Deaflympics this evening at the Taipei Stadium. Joanne Davison and Bethan Lishman were both in the final of the Women's Discus event but the specialist hammer throwers could not progress beyond the first stage.
Tennis
After their superb displays yesterday, both Lewis Fletcher and Darren O'Donnell crashed out of the Men's Singles in the third round. Catherine Graham also made an exit in the Women's Singles.
But there was brighter news in the afternoon, when Anthony Sinclair and Graham teamed up to win their Mixed Doubles match. Anthony and Catherine are now through to the semi-finals, due to take place tomorrow afternoon.
Swimming
Breakthrough 16 year old swimmer Hannah Fitton reached her third final today; qualifying in 8th place but finishing a respectable seventh out of a strong field.
Table Tennis
The boys on the small green table were in action today, trying their best in the defeat to Belgium, 3-1.
Football
Team GB Women now face a tough semi final against reigning champions USA on Friday after losing 6-2 to Russia in their final group game.
An early penalty from Danielle Evans put GB in the lead but by half-time the Russians had surged ahead 3-1.
A Camilla Willis goal from an Esther Maycock cross in the second half gave GB hope but it was mostly
one-way traffic after that as Russia added three more goals.
Badminton
Rajeev Bagga started his quest for a record sixth straight consecutive Deaflympic gold today.
He was first in action this morning, winning in two sets before returning in the afternoon (the early stages of Singles in Badminton are played in 'round robin' format) to again win in two sets.
Andrea Hardwick and Xander Hurley were the pick of the other players, taking their higher-ranked opponents to close games.
Athletics
Team GB's field athletes competed for the first time in these Deaflympics this evening at the Taipei Stadium. Joanne Davison and Bethan Lishman were both in the final of the Women's Discus event but the specialist hammer throwers could not progress beyond the first stage.
Tennis
After their superb displays yesterday, both Lewis Fletcher and Darren O'Donnell crashed out of the Men's Singles in the third round. Catherine Graham also made an exit in the Women's Singles.
But there was brighter news in the afternoon, when Anthony Sinclair and Graham teamed up to win their Mixed Doubles match. Anthony and Catherine are now through to the semi-finals, due to take place tomorrow afternoon.
Swimming
Breakthrough 16 year old swimmer Hannah Fitton reached her third final today; qualifying in 8th place but finishing a respectable seventh out of a strong field.
Table Tennis
The boys on the small green table were in action today, trying their best in the defeat to Belgium, 3-1.
Football
Team GB Women now face a tough semi final against reigning champions USA on Friday after losing 6-2 to Russia in their final group game.
An early penalty from Danielle Evans put GB in the lead but by half-time the Russians had surged ahead 3-1.
A Camilla Willis goal from an Esther Maycock cross in the second half gave GB hope but it was mostly
one-way traffic after that as Russia added three more goals.
Wednesday 9 September 2009
Day 3 Report
Provided by UK Deaf Sport
Athletics
Lauren Peffers secures GB's first silver medal!
Team GB squad members mingled with supporters to cheer on Lauren Peffers in her bid to win the 400m in the Taipei Stadium this evening.
Peffers was always going to be there or thereabouts after her storming semi-final run but despite straining every sinew down the straight, she could not quite catch her Belarusian rival Tsiarentsyeva.
Lauren now turns to defend her title in the 800m.
Swimming
Hannah Fitton grabs second bronze medal
Hannah Fitton, who landed GB's first medal of the Games, repeated her bronze feat of yesterday. This time, she took third place in her preferred event, the 200m individual medley.
Hannah's efforts mean she has two medals in her first-ever Deaflympics at the tender age of 16.
Team Manager Vincent Dickson was ecstatic:
"Hannah sacrificed her social life to put in hard work at the swimming pool and this is the result - a bronze medal with five seconds off her PB. Fantastic!"
Football
Team GB's hold on the gold medal is over after they crashed to a 3-1 defeat against USA.
Jamie Clarke put GB ahead but the Americans equalised on 24 minutes with a high shot that was beyond the reach of Gary Spotswood.
There was a further setback for Team GB when USA went ahead just before half-time. USA now needed to score just one more goal to send GB crashing out at the first stage and it came with a free kick.
This left GB with a mountain to climb and they threw everything forward in the last few minutes but the ball just would not go in the net.
"It was just not meant to be", said a rueful captain Jon Evans afterwards.
Team GB finished level on points with the USA but with a poorer goal difference.
Tennis
Lewis Fletcher continued his good form by swiftly seeing off the challenge of his Slovakian opponent 6-2, 6-1 to book his place in the next round.
Darren O'Donnell raced into a 5-0 lead against Gunnar Kett from Germany with the help of some sublime lobs and won the first set, 6-3.
The German took the next set but always looked in some discomfort and walked off the court, seemingly injured while 3-1 down in the decider.
Fletcher and O'Donnell teamed up later on to come back from a set down to win their Doubles match, making it a superb day on court for the British duo.
Anthony Sinclair was in a battle of the baseliners against Japanese teenager Reiki Kajishita. Sinclair took the first set 6-3 but was rattled by an outrageous line call at a crucial point in the second, which he lost 6-4.
A crowd gathered to watch the players in the deciding set, which Kajishita swept away Sinclair's singles hopes, 6-0.
Daniel Tunstall only had an outside chance against his highly-ranked Hungarian opponent and went out in two sets. Tunstall also lost his Doubles match, with Jamie King.
Great Britain currently hold 31st place in the overall medals table, with a total of 3 medals: 1 silver and 2 bronze
Athletics
Lauren Peffers secures GB's first silver medal!
Team GB squad members mingled with supporters to cheer on Lauren Peffers in her bid to win the 400m in the Taipei Stadium this evening.
Peffers was always going to be there or thereabouts after her storming semi-final run but despite straining every sinew down the straight, she could not quite catch her Belarusian rival Tsiarentsyeva.
Lauren now turns to defend her title in the 800m.
Swimming
Hannah Fitton grabs second bronze medal
Hannah Fitton, who landed GB's first medal of the Games, repeated her bronze feat of yesterday. This time, she took third place in her preferred event, the 200m individual medley.
Hannah's efforts mean she has two medals in her first-ever Deaflympics at the tender age of 16.
Team Manager Vincent Dickson was ecstatic:
"Hannah sacrificed her social life to put in hard work at the swimming pool and this is the result - a bronze medal with five seconds off her PB. Fantastic!"
Football
Team GB's hold on the gold medal is over after they crashed to a 3-1 defeat against USA.
Jamie Clarke put GB ahead but the Americans equalised on 24 minutes with a high shot that was beyond the reach of Gary Spotswood.
There was a further setback for Team GB when USA went ahead just before half-time. USA now needed to score just one more goal to send GB crashing out at the first stage and it came with a free kick.
This left GB with a mountain to climb and they threw everything forward in the last few minutes but the ball just would not go in the net.
"It was just not meant to be", said a rueful captain Jon Evans afterwards.
Team GB finished level on points with the USA but with a poorer goal difference.
Tennis
Lewis Fletcher continued his good form by swiftly seeing off the challenge of his Slovakian opponent 6-2, 6-1 to book his place in the next round.
Darren O'Donnell raced into a 5-0 lead against Gunnar Kett from Germany with the help of some sublime lobs and won the first set, 6-3.
The German took the next set but always looked in some discomfort and walked off the court, seemingly injured while 3-1 down in the decider.
Fletcher and O'Donnell teamed up later on to come back from a set down to win their Doubles match, making it a superb day on court for the British duo.
Anthony Sinclair was in a battle of the baseliners against Japanese teenager Reiki Kajishita. Sinclair took the first set 6-3 but was rattled by an outrageous line call at a crucial point in the second, which he lost 6-4.
A crowd gathered to watch the players in the deciding set, which Kajishita swept away Sinclair's singles hopes, 6-0.
Daniel Tunstall only had an outside chance against his highly-ranked Hungarian opponent and went out in two sets. Tunstall also lost his Doubles match, with Jamie King.
Great Britain currently hold 31st place in the overall medals table, with a total of 3 medals: 1 silver and 2 bronze
Tuesday 8 September 2009
Day 2 Report
Provided by UK Deaf Sport
Swimming
16 year-old Hannah Fitton has given the GB camp a huge lift by landing the first medal of the Taipei Games.
Hannah qualified in fifth place for the final and Swimming Manager Vincent Dickson thought she might have an outside chance.
She did better than Dickson hoped, holding off the challenge of two Russians to win the bronze by 0.91 seconds.
Dickson was elated:
"Not only did Hannah grab the bronze, she knocked a whole four seconds off her personal best. What a fantastic performance - I'm so proud."
Hannah, who was born in Scunthorpe but is now of Wisconsin, was only called up to the squad when her father emailed coach Dickson his daughter's PB (personal best) times on the off chance.
Athletics
Lauren Peffers lit up the Taipei Stadium as darkness fell by breaking the Deaflympics record in her semi-final for the 400m. The previous best was 56.67 but Lauren powered away at the 200m mark to win with a time of 56.12
Under a blazing morning sun at the same venue earlier, young sprinters Nelson Bolumbu and John Ruddy both powered through to the Men's 100m semi-final the same evening.
Ruddy was first to run but could only finish seventh, the same position as Bolumbu. Both runners will now concentrate on the 200m, which starts on Friday.
Tennis
Lewis Fletcher had the match of the day at the riverside tennis courts when he fought back from a set down to beat Austrian second seed Daniel Erlbacher 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.
Catherine Graham had been slightly apprehensive at the Team breakfast this morning as she believed her Japanese opponent, would be "a player with the game to slow me down".
It was Catherine who appeared to be in a hurry however, as she raced through through 6-0, 6-0.
In the Men's Doubles Daniel Tunstall got some action after his walkover Singles result yesterday when he teamed up with Jamie King to go through to the second round after beating an Australian pair 7-6, 6-4.
Football
GB Women put 18 (yes, 18) past a hapless Thailand in their morning kick-off. Long-haired striker Danielle Evans collected a triple hat trick, to make her tally 12 goals in two games.
The 18-0 result sees GB safely into the semi finals ahead of their last game against Russia on Wednesday.
Badminton
Team GB were facing a tough task against Chinese Taipei and it proved to be one just beyond the players in the Team event. GB put up a brave fight but went down 3-2 to the host nation.
Our badminton interests now turn to the Singles and Doubles events which start on Thursday.
Table Tennis
It was another tough day with the bats for Team GB who succumbed 3-1 to Poland. Despite the losses, the team feel these Games will be good experience for the younger players, Nicholas Gilmour and James Meyers.
Reaction
Reviewing Day Two, Team GB Chef de Mission Chris Gywnn commented:
"It's great to get off the mark for medals - let's hope this is the spark we need to go on and get some more".
Full results will be available at the official Deaflympics website. Photos from Day Two can be viewed in the UKDS gallery.
Swimming
16 year-old Hannah Fitton has given the GB camp a huge lift by landing the first medal of the Taipei Games.
Hannah qualified in fifth place for the final and Swimming Manager Vincent Dickson thought she might have an outside chance.
She did better than Dickson hoped, holding off the challenge of two Russians to win the bronze by 0.91 seconds.
Dickson was elated:
"Not only did Hannah grab the bronze, she knocked a whole four seconds off her personal best. What a fantastic performance - I'm so proud."
Hannah, who was born in Scunthorpe but is now of Wisconsin, was only called up to the squad when her father emailed coach Dickson his daughter's PB (personal best) times on the off chance.
Athletics
Lauren Peffers lit up the Taipei Stadium as darkness fell by breaking the Deaflympics record in her semi-final for the 400m. The previous best was 56.67 but Lauren powered away at the 200m mark to win with a time of 56.12
Under a blazing morning sun at the same venue earlier, young sprinters Nelson Bolumbu and John Ruddy both powered through to the Men's 100m semi-final the same evening.
Ruddy was first to run but could only finish seventh, the same position as Bolumbu. Both runners will now concentrate on the 200m, which starts on Friday.
Tennis
Lewis Fletcher had the match of the day at the riverside tennis courts when he fought back from a set down to beat Austrian second seed Daniel Erlbacher 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.
Catherine Graham had been slightly apprehensive at the Team breakfast this morning as she believed her Japanese opponent, would be "a player with the game to slow me down".
It was Catherine who appeared to be in a hurry however, as she raced through through 6-0, 6-0.
In the Men's Doubles Daniel Tunstall got some action after his walkover Singles result yesterday when he teamed up with Jamie King to go through to the second round after beating an Australian pair 7-6, 6-4.
Football
GB Women put 18 (yes, 18) past a hapless Thailand in their morning kick-off. Long-haired striker Danielle Evans collected a triple hat trick, to make her tally 12 goals in two games.
The 18-0 result sees GB safely into the semi finals ahead of their last game against Russia on Wednesday.
Badminton
Team GB were facing a tough task against Chinese Taipei and it proved to be one just beyond the players in the Team event. GB put up a brave fight but went down 3-2 to the host nation.
Our badminton interests now turn to the Singles and Doubles events which start on Thursday.
Table Tennis
It was another tough day with the bats for Team GB who succumbed 3-1 to Poland. Despite the losses, the team feel these Games will be good experience for the younger players, Nicholas Gilmour and James Meyers.
Reaction
Reviewing Day Two, Team GB Chef de Mission Chris Gywnn commented:
"It's great to get off the mark for medals - let's hope this is the spark we need to go on and get some more".
Full results will be available at the official Deaflympics website. Photos from Day Two can be viewed in the UKDS gallery.
Day 1 report
Provided by UK Deaf Sport
Taekwondo
Andrew Yick made history by becoming Great Britain's first-ever Deaflympic competitor in a martial arts event but could only finish fourth in the Tae-kwon-do (58kg) event. Cheered on by a pack of colourful British supporters, Yick fought his way through a tight first bout.
A muscle tear did not help Yick's chances of progress however and he was later outclassed by Muhammed Guler (Turkey), who went on to win gold.
Andrew needed hospital treatment for a foot injury after losing his 3rd/4th play-off bout but was back at the training camp this evening to accept commiserations from fellow athletes.
Men's Football
In an early kick-off, Team GB had to settle for a 0-0 draw with Ireland. The result leaves both teams level on 4 points at the top of their group.
GB had beaten Japan 2-1 in their first game on a waterlogged pitch but conditions were much better today.
A tight match of few chances saw two Irish players sent off and they were joined by GB's Oliver Monksfield, who was dismissed for retaliation after a tackle.
Young striker Jamie Clarke went closest for GB with a late shot that hit the post.
Monksfield will miss GB's next game, their final group game against the USA on Tuesday. That match kicks off at 2.30am British time.
Badminton
In the Team Event, Team GB were drawn a tough start against a strong South Korea.
GB pushed their opponents all the way in each of the five games (two singles and three doubles matches) and the 0-5 scoreline did not reflect the quality of the team's play.
Team Manager Janet Thompson was confident results would improve for the afternoon match with Hong Kong and she was proved correct as GB romped to an easy 5-0 win.
Opening ceremony flag bearer Andrea Hardwick was in action, teaming up with Kirstie Allen - making her Deaflympics debut - to win their afternoon rubber.
The matches took place in a terrific atmosphere as badminton is an extremely popular sport in Taiwan. Many locals waved flags for Chinese Taipei, GB's next opponents.
Table Tennis
GB Table Tennis saw their hopes in the Team event come to an early end in the Taipei Arena where games were being beamed live on TV.
It was always going to be difficult against highly-ranked Japan but one defeat turned to two when GB were beaten by Austria in the afternoon.
Coach David Evans still had special words of praise for Nicholas Gilmour who "played out of his skin" to beat the Japanese world No.2 in his morning match.
Tennis
GB Tennis were also out this morning with Anthony Sinclair and Daniel Tunstall both in action... or nearly.
Sinclair progressed against Jurgen Scheutz of Austria in the Men's Singles first round. Tunstall, meanwhile put in a perfect performance by turning up on court with his racket - his Nigerian opponent failed to show up!
Full results will be available at the official Deaflympics website. Photos from Day One can be viewed in the UKDS gallery.
Taekwondo
Andrew Yick made history by becoming Great Britain's first-ever Deaflympic competitor in a martial arts event but could only finish fourth in the Tae-kwon-do (58kg) event. Cheered on by a pack of colourful British supporters, Yick fought his way through a tight first bout.
A muscle tear did not help Yick's chances of progress however and he was later outclassed by Muhammed Guler (Turkey), who went on to win gold.
Andrew needed hospital treatment for a foot injury after losing his 3rd/4th play-off bout but was back at the training camp this evening to accept commiserations from fellow athletes.
Men's Football
In an early kick-off, Team GB had to settle for a 0-0 draw with Ireland. The result leaves both teams level on 4 points at the top of their group.
GB had beaten Japan 2-1 in their first game on a waterlogged pitch but conditions were much better today.
A tight match of few chances saw two Irish players sent off and they were joined by GB's Oliver Monksfield, who was dismissed for retaliation after a tackle.
Young striker Jamie Clarke went closest for GB with a late shot that hit the post.
Monksfield will miss GB's next game, their final group game against the USA on Tuesday. That match kicks off at 2.30am British time.
Badminton
In the Team Event, Team GB were drawn a tough start against a strong South Korea.
GB pushed their opponents all the way in each of the five games (two singles and three doubles matches) and the 0-5 scoreline did not reflect the quality of the team's play.
Team Manager Janet Thompson was confident results would improve for the afternoon match with Hong Kong and she was proved correct as GB romped to an easy 5-0 win.
Opening ceremony flag bearer Andrea Hardwick was in action, teaming up with Kirstie Allen - making her Deaflympics debut - to win their afternoon rubber.
The matches took place in a terrific atmosphere as badminton is an extremely popular sport in Taiwan. Many locals waved flags for Chinese Taipei, GB's next opponents.
Table Tennis
GB Table Tennis saw their hopes in the Team event come to an early end in the Taipei Arena where games were being beamed live on TV.
It was always going to be difficult against highly-ranked Japan but one defeat turned to two when GB were beaten by Austria in the afternoon.
Coach David Evans still had special words of praise for Nicholas Gilmour who "played out of his skin" to beat the Japanese world No.2 in his morning match.
Tennis
GB Tennis were also out this morning with Anthony Sinclair and Daniel Tunstall both in action... or nearly.
Sinclair progressed against Jurgen Scheutz of Austria in the Men's Singles first round. Tunstall, meanwhile put in a perfect performance by turning up on court with his racket - his Nigerian opponent failed to show up!
Full results will be available at the official Deaflympics website. Photos from Day One can be viewed in the UKDS gallery.
Reports from Days 1 and 2 in BSL
Full reports of the first two days in Taipei are available in BSL here
Friday 4 September 2009
Great Britain Deaflympics schedule announced
The schedule of events for the Great Britain team has been announced.
The full schedule can be found here
The full schedule can be found here
Deaf athletes ready to achieve sporting dreams
Deaf athletes from every corner of the British Isles will be chasing their dream of winning a gold medal when they compete at the Deaflympics, starting on 5 September.On 31 August, the British Deaflympics Team (Team GB) will have fully assembled at their base in Taipei, venueof the 21st Summer Deaflympics. They will join 4000 athletes from over 80 countries at these Games, which take place from 5 - 15 September.
The 80-strong squad is led by outstanding Deaflympian Rajeev Bagga, who is hoping to land his sixth individual gold medal in badminton.
Team GB are defending Deaflympic champions in Men's football, having clinched the gold medal with victory at the Melbourne 2005 Games. Lee Farrell, who scored the dramatic late winner in the 2005 final, is in the squad, which is captained by Jon Evans.
Team GB also includes a Women's football squad, who will be aiming to improve on their impressive bronze medal placing of four years ago.
The athletic squad boasts current gold medallists in Joanne Davison (Women's hammer) and Lauren Peffers (Women's 800m). Several Team GB track and field athletes will be making their Deaflympic debuts.
Team GB is also represented in swimming, table tennis, tennis and - for the first time ever - in martial arts. Andrew Yick carries the hopes of Britain in the Tae Kwon Do event .
Derek Simmons, Honorary President of UK Deaf Sport (UKDS), commented:
"We are tremendously proud of our athletes who have arrived in Taipei, ready to compete in the 21st Deaflympics.
"They have worked extremely hard to secure their places in Team GB and to compete against the world's best Deaf athletes.
"Following the UK Goverment's decision not to provide funding for Team GB, UKDS is very grateful to the many sponsors who have helped make it possible for the athletes to be in Taipei.
"While some athletes received donations, it is important to stress that a number of our squad took out personal loans in order to be able to compete at this level and represent Great Britain.
"We salute our athletes for their commitment to their country and to their sport. Now, we hope their efforts will be rewarded with a haul of medals from Taipei 2009."
Deaflympics kick-off in Taipei!
The 21st Summer Deaflympics are due to officially start tomorrow (5th) in Taipei and Hearing Times is bringing you exclusive coverage of the games in association with UK Deaf Sport.
A full schedule of events for the games can be found here
For a list of when and where the Great Britain team are taking part please visit the UKDS website here
We will be keeping you updated with all the results, interviews and photos direct from the games so keep checking back!
A full schedule of events for the games can be found here
For a list of when and where the Great Britain team are taking part please visit the UKDS website here
We will be keeping you updated with all the results, interviews and photos direct from the games so keep checking back!
Sunday 5 July 2009
Fulham Deaf ladies make historic treble
Click on the video below to watch one of our news stories in British Sign Language.
A text version of the story can be found on the Hearing Times website here
A text version of the story can be found on the Hearing Times website here
Thursday 25 June 2009
BSL video - Deaf heritage down to a tea... and cakes!
Click on the video below to watch one of our news stories in British Sign Language.
A text version of the story can be found on the Hearing Times website here
A text version of the story can be found on the Hearing Times website here
Wednesday 10 June 2009
BSL video - Contact lenses with subtitles win award in deafness research final
Click on the video below to watch one of our news stories in British Sign Language.
A text version of the story can be found on the Hearing Times website here
A text version of the story can be found on the Hearing Times website here
Friday 29 May 2009
BSL video - Harrods boss digs deep for Fulham Deaf
Click on the video below to watch one of our news stories in British Sign Language.
A text version of the story can be found on the Hearing Times website here
A text version of the story can be found on the Hearing Times website here
Wednesday 20 May 2009
An accolade to James Kearney
Why attend an art exhibition private view? A cheap ‘preen and be seen’ tactic? A pointless exercise in browsing what amounts, pretty much, to giant decorated canvas? Rather than dismiss it, however, one would do well to consider its networking prospects, which can be priceless - especially if you’re able to get into the parties others can’t reach. A private view shimmering with the allure of money is an invaluable means of getting to meet those elusive behind-the-scenes figures (forget the celebrities – those are just surface material) who might just give you your make or break moment. It is this - not where the art is, but where the money is - that keep the photographers, pop singers, musicians, DJs, writers, illustrators, film-makers, actors, fashion designers, architects, television presenters and performers as well as artists coming. To aspire to be an artist and overlook the opportunity to make new contacts in this way – or at least get a sense of what’s pulsating right now in contemporary art - is a grave mistake. Obvious though it may seem, there really are people who don’t go because visual art does nothing for them.
An even graver mistake would be not to accept an invitation from James Kearney to accompany him to one of them. A small, quiet figure with Harry Palmer glasses (which he later changed) and short, wiry hair the colour of mature Irish whisky, as far as in-the-know deaf circles were concerned, for three glorious, occasionally sozzled years - until he moved to his native Kilrea, where he now lives - Kearney was the doyen of the London private view.
Never mind that he never actually worked in the arts, being a long-time BBC man; Kearney, or JK as he is informally known, had a knack for being in the right place at the right time. Artrabbit and Time Out were his oracles, and with some nous and a couple of strategic connections, he’d get himself to stand ponderously next to Gilbert & George, Jay Joplin or Helena Bonham-Carter, glass of wine in hand. Then - having edged close enough - he’d stick up his trusty Nokia Communicator for a couple of blurry snaps, just so you knew He Was There.
And all this he did without a sound, unless, of course, the air was right for a sound-bite. JK’s lugubrious appearance – which he once compared to one half of Pinky and the Brain – belied a first-class drollness, enabling him to make straight-faced comments that were as succinct as a Lucio Fontana cut, yet never offensive. (Such is his pokerfaced manner that a friend once posted a photo of him on Facebook with the caption: “*Exclusive*: JK smiles.”) He was the best diarist The Guardian never had and the perfect guest, innocuously relishing everything that others might object to about the London contemporary art scene: selfish, arrogant, vain, pretentious, snobbish, disgusting even.
One likes to think that he was (still is) a friend of the world, bringing together Australians, Italians, Chinese and Brummies through distributing his weekly private view (or PVs, as he referred to them) emails to a growing list. Certainly, being a simple potato gratin man, he was no connoisseur – in art, food, wine or beer for that matter; he’d grab glasses of alcoholic plonk for himself and his friends, caring not whether it came from Italy or Ipswich - only that it was a gateway to enjoyment.
Through his attendances JK was able to lend the private view a democracy that the elite figures might pretend to welcome (why otherwise those thin smiles in the Nokia pictures?), opening them up to the Deaf Community in a way that no-one else has quite managed since.
Alas, the party was short-lived. In 2008, JK had to up sticks for Ireland to care for his father, who has Parkinson’s Disease, in the wake of his mother’s death. And with the move went not just the only link (for most people on his distribution list) to the glittering contemporary art scene, but also the one thing that tied him irrevocably to self-indulgent, repulsive, glorious London. JK, we raise a glass of (free) wine to you.
© Melissa Mostyn 2009
Tuesday 5 May 2009
BSL video - Ricky Hatton hits the road for the RNID
Click on the video below to watch one of our news stories in British Sign Language.
Video provided by our good friends at www.mydeaflife.com
Video provided by our good friends at www.mydeaflife.com
BSL video: Exchange opportunity opens up the world for young people
Click on the video below to watch one of our news stories in British Sign Language.
Video provided by our good friends at www.mydeaflife.com
Video provided by our good friends at www.mydeaflife.com
Friday 1 May 2009
Advice for BSL users about Swine Flu outbreak
Friday 24 April 2009
A personal account of how recession affects the deaf
It has been a treacherous year in the financial world. Never has so much been risked to stabilise what was supposedly a flourishing global economy hit by the high rates and a significant drop in shares.
In late March, the G20 summit of world leaders were battling to defeat the tenure of misery. To combat this Satanist figure looming over the Globe, we relied on the precision of Gordon Brown’s financial plans, inevitably backed by US President Barack Obama. This has seen a trillion dollars pumped into the world market in the hope of restoring trade between countries.
A trillion: to comprehend this is mind-boggling. According to Jerome R. Corsi, who writes an intelligent column on the networldblog website: ‘If someone spent a dollar a second of the trillion, it would take 32,000 years to spend.’ It’s effectively more money than in circulation in the world.
Our ever-cheerful Prime Minister himself stated: ‘This is the day that the world came together to fight back against the global recession.’ Fight back? Surely it will only encourage the greed culture that needs stamping out? This is why the French president initially rejected the plans, claiming better governance of the financial world was required. If not, the Western World will resemble the hyperinflation seen in the aftermath of the First World War in Germany. And who came to the rescue? The most deranged human being to walk the planet, Adolf Hitler, who spoke charmingly at large rallies to gather support from those tired of paying hundreds of German Marks for a loaf of bread as a result of the Weimar Government printing more money then it could afford.
However, with numerous Government incentives inviting businesses to employ those belittled by a disability, hopefully now the hard of hearing can secure those jobs that in years gone by have eluded them. I have felt the harsh reality that my hearing loss has conferred on me, which has prevented me from working alongside associates and acquaintances either in bar work or administration. I was left pondering, as my CV boasts experience and good references.
One such catering boss, upon finding out from a fellow worker that I had hearing problems, suddenly seemed despondent around me, and the next day I was dismissed on grounds of being ‘slow’. If I wasn’t so shocked, I would have complained. How can a fit, lively 18-year-old – who regularly hits the gym and plays football – be ‘slow’ when fellow workers were mostly oldage pensioners?
Despite the legislation such as the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 against such woeful treatment of the disabled, it will always occur in small businesses, such as the one run by that gentleman with his mind still in the 1970s. I was surprised he didn’t start irritatingly quoting from the sitcom Steptoe and Son or calling staff members by the names of characters in Dad’s Army.
With the input of new money and business hopefully starting to improve the economic situation, more jobs may become disability-friendly. A quick glance at directgov.co.uk shows around 40% are disability-friendly, with the majority paying just the minimum wage. Surely, if the Government is eager to improve the life of many, the disabled should come into consideration.
Alternatively, there is Incapacity Benefit, starting around £60 per week, if you go to the mandatory appointments regularly. Yet the process of application still takes approximately three months.
But many disabled people wish to work. With no solution to the lack of jobs, there is no choice but to continue receiving this allowance, which is a pittance when you compare it with what you could be receiving if working full-time. Even part-time work at around 36 hours a week at £6 an hourly rate is £216 per month – a huge increase. That’s a guaranteed £10,000p.a with overtime and holiday pay added. It would mean food in the cupboards and bills paid.
Another area of concern is the ignorance of a Job Centre I visited, a service which we rely on more than ever before. On one occasion I was asked to phone the disability employment adviser – who was just upstairs – to arrange an appointment, which I explained would be a futile task when my hearing is almost 95% deficient. They appeared to sympathise, but reverted to ignorance by asking: ‘You can hear us now, can’t you?’ Well, yes, that’s because I have been trained to lip-read. I cannot imagine what it’s like for those who are profoundly deaf.
Awareness of our issues should be a top priority for the Government and its officials. A deaf MP on the front bench to replace Jacqui Smith would be a dream come true. Will it ever happen? If only. The closest to this was the ex-Labour MP Lord Ashley, who lost his hearing in 1968 yet carried on his duties in the House of Lords until 1992, where his respectful colleagues recognised his efforts to change disability rights. He now acts as president of the RNID.
There is also the issue of introducing British Sign Language on a wider basis in the hope that communicating with the deaf would allow more perspective of deaf and hard of hearing needs. I recall a minister for the disabled called Maria Eagle stating: ‘We need to work as a Government with the deaf people and their organisations to work out what the barriers are.’
Will things ever change?
By Benjamin Stonehouse
Thursday 23 April 2009
Hearing Times news in BSL!
You can now watch some of the top stories from Hearing Times in British Sign Language, thanks to our good friends at http://www.mydeaflife.com/.
Click on the video below to watch recent news stories in BSL.
'Deafblind charity celebrates 1,500 loans'
Click on the video below to watch recent news stories in BSL.
'Deafblind charity celebrates 1,500 loans'
How detrimental are iPods to the hearing you still have?
”PEOPLE don’t look into the sun to see if it damages their eyes,” says Dr. Robert Sweetow, director of audiology at UCSF. “It continually amazes me that people don’t realize if you blast your ears, you’re going to hurt your ears.”
The innovative, stylish and incredibly popular Apple product, the iPod, which has taken the world by storm with its strikingly subtle features allowing large amounts of data to be stored and listened to at any given time. The iPod was in the news this month, due to the unlikeliest source, as the device can now upload videos and still pictures, it has been claimed to have won the Carling Cup at Wembley thanks to Ben Foster’s heroics in the penalty shootout. Foster was watching footage of Tottenham Hotspur’s penalty-takers, which had been prepared by Eric Steele, Manchester United’s goalkeeping coach. Alex Ferguson saw the video and rearranged his squad accordingly, leading them to victory.
More wonderful free publicity for Apple I thought, then I reminisced. Four years ago in the few remaining weeks of the G.C.S.E History class, a spiky-haired classmate of mine smugly brought in an iPod, playing it loudly and I said ‘In a few years time, you’ll be like me’ which he laughed off promptly claiming his hearing was fine. Of course it was fine, he had only just got it and the impact it makes is more long term... then it hit me as to the reason why my tinnitus has worsened over the past year or so. It was barely comfortable as it was since I contracted meningitis at the age of three, but the tinnitus was largely ignored, progressively worsening by the year.
In order to block it out, I listen to whale noises before I sleep to combat the high pitch frequencies I hear, which ironically must have been caused by listening to my iPod at high volume, which of course I shouldn’t do, but then how else would I be able to hear it?
Perhaps I should explain; I have a total of five per cent hearing in the left ear and seven per cent in the right, diminishing by the day leading to the audiologist to state in 20 years time I’d hear nothing. Now with the mp3 abuse I predict he is approximately six years off, taking into account the results of the levels test in 2008. Never mind this, what concerns me is the impact iPods will have on the Hearing in 10 to 20 years time, and also the Deaf.
We’ve heard all about the impact it can have on the Hearing teenagers, and how leading audiologists claim a rapid decline in hearing has increased as people approach middle age as opposed to previous years. One such analytical audiologist at Northwestern University in the U.S found ‘ Ear buds are placed directly in the ear and can boost the sound signal by as much as six to nine decibels. It’s enough to cause hearing loss after only about an hour and 15 minutes,’ which, as shocking as it may sound, is not surprising when you consider the widespread use of ear-buds.
Clearly it shows the worrying impact of the magnitude of decibels enforced upon the ears, citing its 110db volume similar to that of nightclubs and the sweat laden DJs. Also it is more detrimental then factory noise: this is concerning as many factory workers at my father’s steel constructing firm have retired due to terrible, sudden hearing loss. So if these men cannot cope, how on earth can the Deaf, who already have extremely low levels of hearing? Meningitis caused my ear-drum to inexplicably collapse, but could placing an ear-bud so far into the ear cause similar damage?
What is needed is a scientific test to collaborate all these little pebbles of knowledge to form a warning to the teenagers, London Tube users and runners on the streets that their favourite device is in fact soon to be their Achilles Heel. Large organizations such as Phonak need to play Devil’s Advocate.
There are many issues to be resolved in the world at the current time however such as the economic crisis and job losses, but with the continuation of ignorance, many people in 10 years time, will be like me: unable to sleep until 5am due to the rattling, strange high-pitch noises causing sleep deprivation. Or when talking in the street, desperate to hear the friend telling you about the night before and as you try to lip read, you find yourself falling into a trap of isolation.
It’s not pity nor sympathy that is required, but awareness.
By Benjamin Stonehouse
The innovative, stylish and incredibly popular Apple product, the iPod, which has taken the world by storm with its strikingly subtle features allowing large amounts of data to be stored and listened to at any given time. The iPod was in the news this month, due to the unlikeliest source, as the device can now upload videos and still pictures, it has been claimed to have won the Carling Cup at Wembley thanks to Ben Foster’s heroics in the penalty shootout. Foster was watching footage of Tottenham Hotspur’s penalty-takers, which had been prepared by Eric Steele, Manchester United’s goalkeeping coach. Alex Ferguson saw the video and rearranged his squad accordingly, leading them to victory.
More wonderful free publicity for Apple I thought, then I reminisced. Four years ago in the few remaining weeks of the G.C.S.E History class, a spiky-haired classmate of mine smugly brought in an iPod, playing it loudly and I said ‘In a few years time, you’ll be like me’ which he laughed off promptly claiming his hearing was fine. Of course it was fine, he had only just got it and the impact it makes is more long term... then it hit me as to the reason why my tinnitus has worsened over the past year or so. It was barely comfortable as it was since I contracted meningitis at the age of three, but the tinnitus was largely ignored, progressively worsening by the year.
In order to block it out, I listen to whale noises before I sleep to combat the high pitch frequencies I hear, which ironically must have been caused by listening to my iPod at high volume, which of course I shouldn’t do, but then how else would I be able to hear it?
Perhaps I should explain; I have a total of five per cent hearing in the left ear and seven per cent in the right, diminishing by the day leading to the audiologist to state in 20 years time I’d hear nothing. Now with the mp3 abuse I predict he is approximately six years off, taking into account the results of the levels test in 2008. Never mind this, what concerns me is the impact iPods will have on the Hearing in 10 to 20 years time, and also the Deaf.
We’ve heard all about the impact it can have on the Hearing teenagers, and how leading audiologists claim a rapid decline in hearing has increased as people approach middle age as opposed to previous years. One such analytical audiologist at Northwestern University in the U.S found ‘ Ear buds are placed directly in the ear and can boost the sound signal by as much as six to nine decibels. It’s enough to cause hearing loss after only about an hour and 15 minutes,’ which, as shocking as it may sound, is not surprising when you consider the widespread use of ear-buds.
Clearly it shows the worrying impact of the magnitude of decibels enforced upon the ears, citing its 110db volume similar to that of nightclubs and the sweat laden DJs. Also it is more detrimental then factory noise: this is concerning as many factory workers at my father’s steel constructing firm have retired due to terrible, sudden hearing loss. So if these men cannot cope, how on earth can the Deaf, who already have extremely low levels of hearing? Meningitis caused my ear-drum to inexplicably collapse, but could placing an ear-bud so far into the ear cause similar damage?
What is needed is a scientific test to collaborate all these little pebbles of knowledge to form a warning to the teenagers, London Tube users and runners on the streets that their favourite device is in fact soon to be their Achilles Heel. Large organizations such as Phonak need to play Devil’s Advocate.
There are many issues to be resolved in the world at the current time however such as the economic crisis and job losses, but with the continuation of ignorance, many people in 10 years time, will be like me: unable to sleep until 5am due to the rattling, strange high-pitch noises causing sleep deprivation. Or when talking in the street, desperate to hear the friend telling you about the night before and as you try to lip read, you find yourself falling into a trap of isolation.
It’s not pity nor sympathy that is required, but awareness.
By Benjamin Stonehouse
Wednesday 22 April 2009
One for all and all for one at your local cinema - the joy of subtitles
‘YOU have a new email’ box comes up at the bottom corner of my screen. Ah of course, it’s Thursday today! It’s that weekly notification from subtitles@yourlocalcinema.com website. I emit out a feeble “yay”. I have to confess, it’s one of the things I most look forward to on a Thursday. Why? This notification serves a provider of informing us, deaf/hard of hearing people the upcoming subtitled films in our local town via an e-newsletter. So long gone are the days of having to suffer by waiting for the DVD to come out and hitting HMV first thing in the morning.
Though this website is funded by the UK film industry, never did I know this subtitled film information service was set up by a seventeen years old deaf lad, Dean Rhodes-Brandon until he recently won the Make Your Mark Enterprising Young Brits People’s Choice Award (2009).
This information service was actually set up in 2000 when he was eight years old (with some help from his parents). It is extremely generous of him to sacrifice his own time and effort to help around 5 million people including myself in the UK to ensure we have equal access to cinema. Not only does this website provide the date, time and location of around 500 subtitled films, in over 300 cinemas, it also provides thousands of audio described shows for the visually impaired audience. This website also includes subtitled and audio described trailers and clips.
We wouldn’t have the chance to go out with our family or friends as hearing people would do. Not to mention the opportunity of munching a large tub of popcorn and throwing one or two at the people ahead of us (not that I do it). Whether it’s at Odeon, Cineworld or Star City Vue cinemas, the information is mostly and I repeat: MOSTLY, accurate. There have been a few times when I turned up to a cinema, all geared up, to find out from the staff behind the counter there were no subtitled films going on that day. Charming.
My friends have often complained that in their local town, the subtitled films are shown on less popular days like Thursday and Sunday, when they would prefer to go on a Friday or Saturday.
I am sure that some of you have encountered technical problems with the captions whilst watching a film. It’s either blurred, too tiny, half missing and there’s been an occasion when the captioning was lop-sided so I had to watch the film with my head lop-sided too. I will never forget that feeling of disappointment when I attended the screening of Harry Potter. The captions failed to work, and I went to complain to the staff. Five minutes later, I was leaving the cinema with my refund and a free cinema ticket for my next visit. That was a large tub of popcorn wasted.
But besides all these issues, it has been successful most of time. Surely this role must be a huge pressure in Dean’s life, but when he viewed his first subtitled film Chicken Run, it “changed his life” he said. Dean is currently working with organizations that focus on disability, companies that specialise in technology as well as working with cinemas all over the U.K, Wales, Ireland and even the Isle of Wight for future improvements (let’s hope the problems I described are considered).
“Before our website/information service came along, there was no English-language subtitled cinema... the only way deaf people could enjoy cinema was to watch a foreign language film. Ridiculous,” says Dean.
That reminds me of an unfortunate incident when I once enquired about a foreign film ‘Mongol’ and wanted to ensure it had subtitles. The staff told me there were none and I argued that I was told there was a subtitled version on that day. Then of course I realised that it was already subtitled. You can imagine my embarrassment.
Dean has mentioned that in his role as head of yourlocalcinema.com, “receiving feedback from other people with hearing problems or sight problems is the best thing of all.”
Right, when’s the next subtitled film?
Louise Buglass
Though this website is funded by the UK film industry, never did I know this subtitled film information service was set up by a seventeen years old deaf lad, Dean Rhodes-Brandon until he recently won the Make Your Mark Enterprising Young Brits People’s Choice Award (2009).
This information service was actually set up in 2000 when he was eight years old (with some help from his parents). It is extremely generous of him to sacrifice his own time and effort to help around 5 million people including myself in the UK to ensure we have equal access to cinema. Not only does this website provide the date, time and location of around 500 subtitled films, in over 300 cinemas, it also provides thousands of audio described shows for the visually impaired audience. This website also includes subtitled and audio described trailers and clips.
We wouldn’t have the chance to go out with our family or friends as hearing people would do. Not to mention the opportunity of munching a large tub of popcorn and throwing one or two at the people ahead of us (not that I do it). Whether it’s at Odeon, Cineworld or Star City Vue cinemas, the information is mostly and I repeat: MOSTLY, accurate. There have been a few times when I turned up to a cinema, all geared up, to find out from the staff behind the counter there were no subtitled films going on that day. Charming.
My friends have often complained that in their local town, the subtitled films are shown on less popular days like Thursday and Sunday, when they would prefer to go on a Friday or Saturday.
I am sure that some of you have encountered technical problems with the captions whilst watching a film. It’s either blurred, too tiny, half missing and there’s been an occasion when the captioning was lop-sided so I had to watch the film with my head lop-sided too. I will never forget that feeling of disappointment when I attended the screening of Harry Potter. The captions failed to work, and I went to complain to the staff. Five minutes later, I was leaving the cinema with my refund and a free cinema ticket for my next visit. That was a large tub of popcorn wasted.
But besides all these issues, it has been successful most of time. Surely this role must be a huge pressure in Dean’s life, but when he viewed his first subtitled film Chicken Run, it “changed his life” he said. Dean is currently working with organizations that focus on disability, companies that specialise in technology as well as working with cinemas all over the U.K, Wales, Ireland and even the Isle of Wight for future improvements (let’s hope the problems I described are considered).
“Before our website/information service came along, there was no English-language subtitled cinema... the only way deaf people could enjoy cinema was to watch a foreign language film. Ridiculous,” says Dean.
That reminds me of an unfortunate incident when I once enquired about a foreign film ‘Mongol’ and wanted to ensure it had subtitles. The staff told me there were none and I argued that I was told there was a subtitled version on that day. Then of course I realised that it was already subtitled. You can imagine my embarrassment.
Dean has mentioned that in his role as head of yourlocalcinema.com, “receiving feedback from other people with hearing problems or sight problems is the best thing of all.”
Right, when’s the next subtitled film?
Louise Buglass
Language of art
As part of Tate Modern’s regular free BSL talks programme – which takes place at 7pm on the 1st Friday of every month, usually with a deaf gallery presenter - I led a tour of their Defining Constructivism exhibition with around 70 attendees. Conveying the social, cultural, historical and political framework that so inspired the Russian avant-garde of the 1920s in deaf-friendly terms proved a challenge.
This was not just due to the foreign names (which I chose to show on paper rather than finger-spell), but also the complexity of describing the mood of that time. How do you explain an artist working with emotional detachment to someone who understands only the highly expressive culture that saturates his life today?
The emphasis that Deaf Culture places on self-expression is what gives us our directness. The daily communication barriers within the mainstream that we face make conveying our feelings difficult, which subsequently make us all the more determined to get to the point when we can - and as quickly as possible.
I used to think that the language of visual art was universal and therefore amenable to this directness. Having attended the excellent three-part deaf gallery presenters’ course provided by Deafworks and the Wallace Collection that ended last month, I am no longer so sure.
While visual art does befit its title generally, sometimes what it visualises is not always clear to us, due to outside contributing factors that may either no longer exist or just don’t form part of our cultural sensibility. Far from failing to communicate its message, this makes the art all the richer in its comment on society – and all the more important a reflection of its time.
Back to the course. In the Wallace Collection’s Meeting Room, 12 deaf and hard-of-hearing gallery presenters, including myself, engaged in a discussion about being ‘conductors’ of the galleries we worked with, our audiences, and ourselves. It got us thinking about working with two or more languages and how we could bridge the cultural differences between our audiences and the art.
For us as deaf people, that discussion – one of several that peppered the course as a means of facilitating our professional development – was a turning point. Of course, before joining we already knew the value of research and preparation for gallery tours, but it also brought home the fact that our visual communication values didn’t necessarily bring us closer to understanding visual art.
However, it became clear that our own dedication to building on our knowledge – and the fact that we had few precedents in that respect - did make us specialists in the field. First-hand experience of being part of the Deaf Community gave us incentive to explore its intricacies from a deaf cultural perspective, enabling us to identify parallels to draw on and consider how best to explain artistic concepts that had none.
No BSL interpreter, however qualified and experienced s/he is, could undergo such deep-rooted thinking. Not that I am against BSL-interpreted gallery tours; they are invaluable in enabling deaf access to mainstream perspectives of visual art, especially when the commitment to clarity, skill, pace and accuracy is in evidence. But ultimately, BSL interpreters remain neutral channels through which BSL becomes spoken English and vice versa.
Aside from bringing deaf audiences closer to visual art in a way that BSL-interpreted tours don’t – on proviso, of course, that it is done well - another advantage of deaf-led tours is the opportunity it gives the deaf gallery presenter to stretch his or her intellect. What better way to develop an affinity with an art movement like Russian Constructivism than to swot up on it?
© Melissa Mostyn 2009
Wednesday 11 March 2009
Conceptual vs. commercial
First, I am going to do a plug. Bear with me. On Saturday 25th April at 7pm, Salon is holding an exhibition of signed limited-edition prints at Nincomsoup in central London (www.salonart.org.uk).
The printed images – shot by Miles Thomas - depict works made by deaf and hard-of-hearing visual artists during Salon’s activities in 2006-8. Profits from the sales will be split between Salon for the benefit of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community and the artists who created the original pieces, except in cases where the artist has specifically asked for all profits to be reinvested in Salon.
This is not aiming to be a conceptual art exhibition, although we would naturally respect buyers’ wishes to learn of the theories behind the works featured. Instead, it is a selection of some of our best images collected over the years, printed on light-fast specialist art paper for the sheer pleasure of our buyers.
Why have we reached this point in time? Deaf visual art has explored themes of communication for over two decades, with the intention to promote and celebrate Deaf Culture. However, although some truly witty works of art have come out of that culture, it can still be a hit-and-miss affair.
The challenges lie not in visiting art collections, collecting images of inspirational paintings, or even meeting mainstream artists. That conforms to the basic principle of accessing visual art as a spectator.
Rather, it is developing the BSL equivalent of contemporary visual art theory - which can be rather arcane and deeply rooted in spoken language culture at - that is difficult. You need to know the rules before you can break them. Experience indicates that the deaf visual artists most likely to do that tend to be bilingual.
Moreover, the prevailing view - that art is what you make it - makes it even harder to pick creative gold from the flotsam, ensuring that artists such as Stella Vine continue to attract controversy.
Salon was formed in 2005 to address exactly this issue. We may have been too radical for some. While many of the deaf and hard-of-hearing visual artists who came to us recognised their exclusion from the mainstream contemporary art scene, it was hard to create an environment in which the full impact of a conceptual 2D or 3D piece, questioning the status quo from a deaf perspective, could be realised.
That’s not to say that our activities didn’t incur creativity in our artists - they did. The result was some scrumptious pieces of deaf innovation. Among those that took your breath away with their visual purity were Martin Glover’s Old Man’s Ear, Matt Jenkins’ Untitled (The City vs. Nature), and Colin Redwood’s Natural Satellite. Printed images of all three will now be exhibited next month in editions of 250 along with several others.
But let’s not harbour any illusions here. Being part of a minority group, the number of BSL-using deaf visual artists able to transcend the commercial/community art mould is far outweighed by that of their mainstream peers.
Commercial art is no bad thing though. An artists’ agent told me recently how hard it was to sell high-concept works of the sort endorsed by Tate Modern. Would a Yves Klein blue canvas be happy in an one-bedroom flat? Only if it was of the huge penthouse variety! Then again, it’s been said that the only difference between Stella Vine and other similar artists is marketing.
So instead, of aiming for the moon, let’s work on developing an eye for aesthetics and/or visual witticisms that buyers can treasure. And if you do get shortlisted for the Turner Prize? Kudos to you.
© Melissa Mostyn 2009
Tuesday 24 February 2009
Film and the mainstream issue
Watching a private screening of Stiletto before Christmas, it was noticeable how its square target at mainstream audiences disregarded its deaf input.Stiletto (www.stilettofilm.co.uk) is a murder mystery thriller, centring round a hapless artist (Tom Harper) who tries to avert a supposed crisis initiated by a well-groomed sultry blonde (Beth Winslet). A classic homage that directly references its grant-maker - Apex Arts and Film London/Waltham Forest’s Hitchcock Production Fund – it’s a nicely crafted short that makes great use of the colour red as a recurring motif alerting us to impending danger.
Stiletto’s production team constituted a deaf director working with an entirely hearing cast and crew. This achievement may not necessarily seem that unusual in a population context. Skillset’s estimate that deaf and disabled people constituted 2.3% of the wider media workforce in 2003 should be treated with caution: for one film-maker openly declaring his deafness, several may underplay theirs. Choosing instead to work quietly ‘from within’, some may even dissociate themselves from any whiff of deaf culture whatsoever.
Not so William Mager, Stiletto’s director. Shorts like Hope and Betrayal (both 2002), and collaborations with Jonathan Reid (2003’s Text, Batteries and Earwax and its 2007 sequel, The Association) and Remark! (Reservoir Wolves, 2001), indicate a long-lasting bond with the Deaf Community that he clearly values.
Mager has, of course, worked on The Culture Show, Crimewatch and Waking The Dead as well as BBC TV’s See Hear. This edge over many of his deaf competitors is what gives Stiletto its polish, making it arguably the most high-profile of his three ‘hearing’ shorts so far - which made its inclusion in the 2008 Deaffest programme all the more odd, given how it stood apart from all those cosy Deaf films.
Talking to the director recently, he took pains to stress the need to prove his mainstream capabilities, worrying that placing a deaf character in Stiletto might imply “a “comfort zone” of working with deaf actors, which would perhaps limit my opportunities.”
Breakthroughs for deaf filmmakers are certainly rare. Interviewed by The Times in South Africa recently, Louis Neethling highlighted the difficulties of ‘transcending being labelled’: “Making films about deafness isn’t very glamorous and therefore a very small budget is given when you work in these fields. So you learn to get the most out of very little.”
Neethling is nonetheless determined to see more openly deaf people in mainstream film roles, setting up Mutt & Jeff Pictures for that purpose: “Why do we have to stick to issue-related or medical storylines? Why can't we have deaf actors in everyday-life stories?”
Mager doesn’t share Neethling’s passion in quite the same way; he would much rather be developing two discrete strands: “Deafness is always going to be part of me and the films I make.
“But I also have strong mainstream ambitions in the long term, and some of the stories I want to tell are rooted in other aspects of my life, such as Sheffield, where I grew up, and East London, where I live now.”
This is rather like attending a partially hearing unit within a mainstream school, spending half the time with deaf schoolchildren, half with hearing. A ‘dual identity’ then emerges where you conform by presenting two contrasting faces to each world.
Being only half-true to yourself most of the time, however, risks losing you both audiences eventually. Why shouldn’t Mager look into incorporating this duality into one, singular, theme? Revelations of an interest in European arthouse recently may appear to contradict his avowed fervour for going ‘mainstream’, yet could provide new inspiration for quirkier film-making tactics.
Let’s not forget all those mainstream films that have been derided for being too afraid to be unconventional in their portrayals of disability: Rainman, Forrest Gump, guilty all. By placing his multiculturalism in a mainstream context, William Mager could be setting himself the challenge of his entire career: entertaining both audiences to the full.
Since the column went to print, Stiletto was selected to appear in Tokyo Short Shorts, an international film festival in Japan next June. Tokyo Short Shorts is an official qualifier of short films for the Oscars and BAFTAs, and every film that competes for the festival’s awards is eligible for submission. The Hearing Times would like to congratulate William Mager, his cast and crew for this huge achievement.
(c) Melissa Mostyn 2009
Wednesday 28 January 2009
New column – new playwriting ingenuity
The beauty of practising contemporary visual art is the limitless scope for imagination that it affords. It is this that gives the critic incentive to extend current interests to artistic disciplines that would formerly never get a second glance.
Although multi-disciplinary art has existed for decades now, Deaf Arts seem not to have quite reached that stage yet. Of course, exceptions such as Aaron Williamson and Sign Dance Collective spring to mind, although these tend towards the ‘deaf and disabled’ sensibility rather than a specific deaf cultural focus.
Within the creative Deaf/BSL Community, the divide between the performing arts and visual art remains. One rarely sees deaf performers at art gallery private views, while deaf visual artists becoming extras on BBC TV’s Switch don’t count as multi-disciplinary: they just need the money.
Hence the column. Each month, an aspect of Deaf Arts will be covered in the form of a review, opinion piece or profile. Not that one hopes to generate a school of multidisciplinary creative thinking: perish the thought. Rather, the aim is to explore and celebrate Deaf Arts in its entirety.
Thus it begins with Deafinitely Theatre. Their last production, Lipstick and Lollipops - Charlie Swinbourne’s playwriting debut – didn’t impress, due to a storyline rather too reminiscent of Eastenders to feel truly original, and a habit for characters to appear at cross-purposes, confounding all sense of time and space.
Given the company’s past output, however – dramas have explored cochlear implant politics, Nazi deaf genocide, and dysfunctional family life - it could be safely assumed that future plays would not repeat such mistakes.
Indeed, both Deafinitely Creative - a showcase of eight pieces by deaf writers – and Double Sentence, Deafinitely Theatre’s new work-in-progress, both of which were staged at Oval House Theatre over two nights, showed evidence of both a return to form and potential for further ingenuity.
To detail every one of the eight shorts-in-progress - developed over four intensive monthly sessions in London following a week-long residential writing course in Shropshire – would be impossible.
Nevertheless Mary-Jayne Russell de Clifford’s Buttercup (a charming story about an orphaned nun trying to avoid the laundry man’s attentions), Aliya Gulamani’s Energy (love and life in an unusual industrial climate) and Norma McGilp’s Hold The Line (a cracking dialogue between a deaf woman and her interpreter wrestling for control) should all be noted.
More anticipation was reserved for Double Sentence. Taking place on a black stage - unadorned save for a white-tape floor grid – the story concerns Tom Fry (Matthew Gurney), a Deaf BSL user adapting to prison life. After attempts to co-operate with staff and inmates fail to overcome the proverbial linguistic barrier, he is visited by Anna (Emma Case), a clinical psychologist with sign language skills, who could provide just the lifeline he needs.
Sadly, the respite is short-lived: another psychologist, Mary (the estimable Caroline Parker), brought in for a second opinion, lacks Anna’s communication skills and misinterprets Tom’s frustrated requests as an act of insanity. As a result, solitary confinement is recommended.
So far, so expected. This was classic issues-driven theatre that drew from four months’ research involving Deaf prisoners and ex-offenders for the first time and Deafinitely Theatre’s own political inclinations.
Its lucidity, however, was a surprise. A 20-minute preview following just two weeks of script development this might have been, but Double Sentence indicated an impeccably tight, absorbing story that brought home the appallingly bleak prognosis that many Deaf BSL prisoners face, commanding strong performances all-round.
Co-writers Andrew Muir – an actor and playwright responsible for the award-winning Green Grass, Push (selected as Time Out Critic’s Choice) and The Owl’s Nest – and Paula Garfield, Deafinitely’s Artistic Director, hope to go on national tour with Double Sentence in late 2009 (depending on funding) once scripting is complete.
One looks forward to what could lie in store – although not necessarily for poor Tom.
Visit www.deafinitelytheatre.co.uk for news of future developments.
(c) Melissa Mostyn 2009
Although multi-disciplinary art has existed for decades now, Deaf Arts seem not to have quite reached that stage yet. Of course, exceptions such as Aaron Williamson and Sign Dance Collective spring to mind, although these tend towards the ‘deaf and disabled’ sensibility rather than a specific deaf cultural focus.Within the creative Deaf/BSL Community, the divide between the performing arts and visual art remains. One rarely sees deaf performers at art gallery private views, while deaf visual artists becoming extras on BBC TV’s Switch don’t count as multi-disciplinary: they just need the money.
Hence the column. Each month, an aspect of Deaf Arts will be covered in the form of a review, opinion piece or profile. Not that one hopes to generate a school of multidisciplinary creative thinking: perish the thought. Rather, the aim is to explore and celebrate Deaf Arts in its entirety.
Thus it begins with Deafinitely Theatre. Their last production, Lipstick and Lollipops - Charlie Swinbourne’s playwriting debut – didn’t impress, due to a storyline rather too reminiscent of Eastenders to feel truly original, and a habit for characters to appear at cross-purposes, confounding all sense of time and space.
Given the company’s past output, however – dramas have explored cochlear implant politics, Nazi deaf genocide, and dysfunctional family life - it could be safely assumed that future plays would not repeat such mistakes.
Indeed, both Deafinitely Creative - a showcase of eight pieces by deaf writers – and Double Sentence, Deafinitely Theatre’s new work-in-progress, both of which were staged at Oval House Theatre over two nights, showed evidence of both a return to form and potential for further ingenuity.
To detail every one of the eight shorts-in-progress - developed over four intensive monthly sessions in London following a week-long residential writing course in Shropshire – would be impossible.
Nevertheless Mary-Jayne Russell de Clifford’s Buttercup (a charming story about an orphaned nun trying to avoid the laundry man’s attentions), Aliya Gulamani’s Energy (love and life in an unusual industrial climate) and Norma McGilp’s Hold The Line (a cracking dialogue between a deaf woman and her interpreter wrestling for control) should all be noted.
More anticipation was reserved for Double Sentence. Taking place on a black stage - unadorned save for a white-tape floor grid – the story concerns Tom Fry (Matthew Gurney), a Deaf BSL user adapting to prison life. After attempts to co-operate with staff and inmates fail to overcome the proverbial linguistic barrier, he is visited by Anna (Emma Case), a clinical psychologist with sign language skills, who could provide just the lifeline he needs.
Sadly, the respite is short-lived: another psychologist, Mary (the estimable Caroline Parker), brought in for a second opinion, lacks Anna’s communication skills and misinterprets Tom’s frustrated requests as an act of insanity. As a result, solitary confinement is recommended.
So far, so expected. This was classic issues-driven theatre that drew from four months’ research involving Deaf prisoners and ex-offenders for the first time and Deafinitely Theatre’s own political inclinations.
Its lucidity, however, was a surprise. A 20-minute preview following just two weeks of script development this might have been, but Double Sentence indicated an impeccably tight, absorbing story that brought home the appallingly bleak prognosis that many Deaf BSL prisoners face, commanding strong performances all-round.
Co-writers Andrew Muir – an actor and playwright responsible for the award-winning Green Grass, Push (selected as Time Out Critic’s Choice) and The Owl’s Nest – and Paula Garfield, Deafinitely’s Artistic Director, hope to go on national tour with Double Sentence in late 2009 (depending on funding) once scripting is complete.
One looks forward to what could lie in store – although not necessarily for poor Tom.
Visit www.deafinitelytheatre.co.uk for news of future developments.
(c) Melissa Mostyn 2009
Monday 5 January 2009
Just a thought...
Recently I have been thinking about illusions, and how important they are to disabled people. For example, I am assured that those who are skilled in lip-reading and signing can actually 'hear' the sound of speech in their minds, by means of 'educated illusion'.
My lip-reading is very poor, so I have to turn on the subtitles when I watch TV. I also turn off the sound, because I find the ever-present 'background' jingles very distracting. How I hate them. Clearly the perpetrators assume that these silly scraps of music can be shuffled backwards and forwards in the ear of the listener, like mental playing cards in a pack.
Certainly an old-fashioned gramophone record is solid enough, and its single groove is spirally shaped. Yet the plain truth is that the music itself only has two dimensions. And you only have to watch the unilateral wobble of the gramophone needle, to understand this.
In the same way, it can be shown that not only live sound, but also the action of the human ear-drum, are two-dimensional. In other words, both actions are composed of nothing more than a frequency of response and a varying degree of energy.
Yet we talk about stereophonic speakers and omni-directional microphones, as if sound was something round and solid, like an invisible dome. Why is this?
I would suggest four possible answers.
First, thanks to the gift of perceptual projection, we have the illusion that the sensations that our ears are experiencing are actually originating somewhere in the distance. We talk about 'the sound of distant gun-fire,' or of 'hearing voices in the garden next door'.
But of course this magical effect does not apply to sound alone. It applies to our other four senses as well. For example, it applies whenever a blind man is feeling his way with a stick. In his mind, it is the tip of the stick which senses the various objects. Whereas in fact it is the sensors in his arm and finger muscles that are responsible.
The second answer is that, with the exception of a few clever animals and machines, most originators of sound transmit the noise all around them. And it is often possible, even for people who have hearing disabilities, to identify each of these sources by turning the head, and cupping the hands around the ears, etc. It's simply a matter of directing the ear to catch the sound waves at the best angle. In other words, as near to ninety degrees as possible.
The third answer, as all lip-readers and ventriloquists know, is psychological. For example, when you see the lips and eyes of a doll moving, the assumption that she is talking to you, is irresistible.
Finally, in real life, different sounds are very often originating in several places at once. Hence the TV/Radio broadcaster's compulsion to load a number of recorded sounds onto a single track, by post-productive editing. Thus, although the end result comes from a single loud-speaker, the idea is to make us feel that we are physically surrounded by a full orchestra of noise-makers.
And it's this crafty little trick that all those who suffer from intrusive TV & Radio jingle should bear in mind, when complaining!
By Richard Tomalin, 'Pipedown' TV/ Radio music sub-campaign.
My lip-reading is very poor, so I have to turn on the subtitles when I watch TV. I also turn off the sound, because I find the ever-present 'background' jingles very distracting. How I hate them. Clearly the perpetrators assume that these silly scraps of music can be shuffled backwards and forwards in the ear of the listener, like mental playing cards in a pack.
Certainly an old-fashioned gramophone record is solid enough, and its single groove is spirally shaped. Yet the plain truth is that the music itself only has two dimensions. And you only have to watch the unilateral wobble of the gramophone needle, to understand this.
In the same way, it can be shown that not only live sound, but also the action of the human ear-drum, are two-dimensional. In other words, both actions are composed of nothing more than a frequency of response and a varying degree of energy.
Yet we talk about stereophonic speakers and omni-directional microphones, as if sound was something round and solid, like an invisible dome. Why is this?
I would suggest four possible answers.
First, thanks to the gift of perceptual projection, we have the illusion that the sensations that our ears are experiencing are actually originating somewhere in the distance. We talk about 'the sound of distant gun-fire,' or of 'hearing voices in the garden next door'.
But of course this magical effect does not apply to sound alone. It applies to our other four senses as well. For example, it applies whenever a blind man is feeling his way with a stick. In his mind, it is the tip of the stick which senses the various objects. Whereas in fact it is the sensors in his arm and finger muscles that are responsible.
The second answer is that, with the exception of a few clever animals and machines, most originators of sound transmit the noise all around them. And it is often possible, even for people who have hearing disabilities, to identify each of these sources by turning the head, and cupping the hands around the ears, etc. It's simply a matter of directing the ear to catch the sound waves at the best angle. In other words, as near to ninety degrees as possible.
The third answer, as all lip-readers and ventriloquists know, is psychological. For example, when you see the lips and eyes of a doll moving, the assumption that she is talking to you, is irresistible.
Finally, in real life, different sounds are very often originating in several places at once. Hence the TV/Radio broadcaster's compulsion to load a number of recorded sounds onto a single track, by post-productive editing. Thus, although the end result comes from a single loud-speaker, the idea is to make us feel that we are physically surrounded by a full orchestra of noise-makers.
And it's this crafty little trick that all those who suffer from intrusive TV & Radio jingle should bear in mind, when complaining!
By Richard Tomalin, 'Pipedown' TV/ Radio music sub-campaign.
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