COUNTDOWN TO THE PARALYMPICS

Tanni’s surprise visit to Lottery funding youth wheelchair basketball club

A host of British sporting greats, from a wide array of disciplines, celebrated the bright prospects for the future of school sport – and the stalwarts charged with making it happen – at a gala luncheon on Thursday.

Chepstow Racecourse is pleased to announce that Disability Sport Wales has become their official charity partner for this year’s Coral Welsh National. As well as raising awareness of the organization, any funds raised will go towards the development of talented disabled athletes across Wales..

Following a fantastic season for Nathan Stephens (Bridgend) he’s been shortlisted for the Aviva UK Athletics ‘Best Paralympic Performance in 2011’ which will be announced at the ceremony on November 26th.

The CPISRA Boccia Europa Cup has just come to finish with great performances by the Great Britain Team. Amongst them was our very own Jacob Thomas from Narberth in Pembrokeshire. In only his second international competition he sailed through his group matches, and fought off tough

Disability Sport Wales and Boccia Wales hosted the GB Boccia Championships at the Sport Wales National Centre, Cardiff over the weekend. 36 of the best players in the UK converged on Cardiff to take each other on for the ultimate title – GB Champion.

British Wheelchair Basketball supported by the Lord Taverners hosted the Junior National Championships in Stoke Mandeville over the weekend, which saw promising successes for the Welsh squads.

Paralympic hopeful Mark Colbourne (Tredegar) and his cycling coach Neil Smith (Newport) launched the Lloyds TSB’s Paralympic Torch Relay campaign which will come to Cardiff prior to the Paralympic Games. Shine a light on someone who has inspired or supported people with disability in your community by nominating them to carry the Paralympic Flame with Lloyds TSB at www.lloydstsb.com/paralympicflame before 22 November 2011.

This weekend Disability Sport Wales and Boccia Wales is proud to be involved in the hosting of the 2011 GB Boccia Championships at the Sport Wales National Centre in Cardiff.

The GB Para Table Tennis Team will be flying to Croatia on October 19 for the European Para TT Championships at Split where they will be playing in individual and team events. The team will consist of 5 welsh players, making up 305 of the GB Team, and are already in top form winning Two Golds at the recent British Open.

Four Academy athletes recently travelled to Crew to compete in the Para-Table Tennis English Grand Prix hosted by Mencap. Under the leadership of Academy Coach Jim Munkley MBE, coach to a number of Paralympic players over the years, the players returned with a bagful of medals.

The conveyor belt of talented athletes from the Disability Sport Wales Academy Programme continues to churn them out, as another 2 Academy Athletics Squad members have been invited onto the World Class Programme managed by UK Athletics. Jordan Howe (Cardiff) and Rhys Jones (Tonypandy) – both coached by Jane Coia, will join up in December on the WCPP Development Squad, as they aspire to London 2012 selection, but more importantly the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.