Showing posts with label Deaflympics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Deaflympics. Show all posts

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.

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.

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

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