14 July By Andrew Horsfield
The final competition before the Paralympic Games in Beijing was held recently in Wuppertal, Germany, against 32 other nations.
The Great Britain squad of 16 contained 8 players who will be competing in Beijing.
The squad came home with 2 golds, 3 silvers and 4 bronze medals.
The cream of the crop was Scott Robertson of Deeside who won gold in the Class 5 Men’s Singles, his performance was exceptional with an event containing the World and Paralympic Champions from Sweden and Korea. On the way to winning gold, Scott beat for the first time the silver medallist from Athens, Jung of Korea.
Not to be outdone, top seeds Will Bayley and Paul Karabardak won gold in the Class 7 Team event, beating the Ukraine for the very first time 3-1, which included a first for Will beating Popov, one of the favourites for Beijing. The GB second team of Farrell Anthony and Joe Stotesbury claimed bronze in the same event, beating Belgium 3-2 after trailing 2-0.
Will Bayley picked up a second medal in the Class 7 singles, beating Paul Karabardak in an all GB bronze medal match.
Sue Gilroy had an excellent victory against Lundback of Sweden, the current Eurpoean Open Champion, in the bronze medal match in the Women’s Open Singles, she continued her good form claiming a silver in the Class 4 Women’s Singles.
Sara Head who is currently first reserve for the Class 3 singles in Beijing continued her good form, claiming the silver in the Women’s Class 3 Singles.
Jane Campbell, having changed her style of play after failing to qualify for Beijing, is starting to reap rewards and partnering her Russian team mate won silver, losing out to European team silver medallists Italy. Cathy Mitton claimed bronze in the Women’s Class 2 Singles.
Neil Robinson just missed out on a bronze medal in the Open Singles match, losing out to the current Class 3 Paralympic Champion from Korea,
The squad now have two more training camps at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield before they fly out to Hong Kong on 24th August for their holding camp in Hong Kong.
Image 1: Scott Robertson
Image 2: Paul Karabardak
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