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.