domingo, 9 de septiembre de 2012
Olympics 2012 news Ellie Simmonds wins Paralympics 2012 gold in ... - WalesOnline (blog)
sábado, 8 de septiembre de 2012
Olympics 2012 news Aled Davies wins Great Britain's first ... - WalesOnline (blog)
Aled Davies delighted a near full Olympic Stadium by winning Great Britain’s first Paralympic athletics medal on the first morning of competition.
The 21-year-old from Bridgend clinched bronze in the F42/44 shot put with a throw of 13.78 metres.
That worked out at a total of 961 points. The Welsh athlete finished 26 points behind Croatian silver medallist Darko Kralj, with Denmark’s Jackie Christiansen taking gold.
Davies, who was making his Paralympic debut and whose main event is the discus, saved his longest throw for his sixth and final attempt, although he was already on course for the podium thanks to a third-round effort of 13.63.
The Bridgend athlete, who represented Wales at swimming before turning his attention to athletics in 2006, was born with talipese and hemi-hemilia in his right leg, which means the limb is missing bones, muscle and ligaments and is supported with a brace.
“As soon as I came out of that tunnel the whole stadium erupted,” said Davies, who received another huge ovation when he received his medal.
“They didn’t know who I was but I was competing for Great Britain and everyone started screaming.
“I knew going out there six of those guys had taken medals in Beijing so I needed to bring something big to the table.
“A lot of people were thinking because I had broken the world record at the start of the year I should be in for a medal shot, but there are six other guys out there who are also close to the world record.
“To manage to perform as close as I can to that and to be able to beat a lot of those guys is a big thing.
“It’s my second event, I wanted to get in the final eight and maybe a top-six finish, but I did not expect to medal. I’m just overwhelmed.”
Paralympics 2012 medal table
martes, 4 de septiembre de 2012
Olympics 2012 news Welsh Paralympian Paul Davies wins bronze ... - WalesOnline (blog)
Paul DaviesGreat Britain’s Paul Davies was “over the moon” after capping more than two decades of hard work with table tennis bronze on his Paralympic debut.
The 45-year-old Welshman has been working towards appearing at the Games since becoming more actively involved in the sport in 1991, five years after he was paralysed in a motorbike accident.
That effort paid off today as Davies ensured himself a podium finish after winning a tense C1 bronze medal match 3-2 against South Korea’s Lee Chang-Ho in front of a raucous home crowd at the ExCel.
“I am over the moon to be a Paralympic bronze medallist,” he said.
“I’ve been playing for 21 years, since the day my son was born until today so it is a happy day.
“I don’t know what is going on with me lately. It keeps going to the fifth set.
“I have had a few big scraps and I treated this bronze medal match as my final match.
“It was all to gain, all to work hard for and I am very happy to come away with a bronze medal in front of a home crowd.
“All the psychology work I’ve done and all that experience came together great on the day.
“It was a big scrap out there and I am not saying it was easy because it wasn’t. Lee from Korea is a great player and big respect to him.”
Davies was one of three British Paralympic debutants in with a shout of a bronze medal today, but was the only one able to add to Will Bayley’s C7 silver from yesterday.
Sara Head missed out in her hunt for C3 bronze after a tough match against world number three Alena Kanova.
The Welsh Paralympian, who has had paraplegia since she was 15, won the first game but eventually lost 3-1 to her Slovakian opponent.
“It has been an unbelievable experience and what I have got from it is priceless,” said Head, who now turns her attention to her Paralympics doubles campaign with Jane Campbell.
“I was confident that I was going to go in there and fight. She changed her tactics and came back at me. I took my fight to her and she came fighting back.
“I knew it was going to be a tough one. She medalled in every major and I knew it was going to be a difficult one being my first semi-final in a major.”
The other Briton in with a shot at a medal today was Ross Wilson, but the 17-year-old lost 3-0 to Sweden’s Emil Andersson and the chance of C8 bronze.
“I am feeling pretty gutted obviously,” said Wilson, who has multiple epiphyseal dysplasia.
“He came out quite strongly and aggressive and I wasn’t really expecting it.
“It has been amazing and I have never experienced a crowd like it.”
It was a hectic morning at the ExCel as no fewer than 15 table tennis medals were decided.
Hungary’s Peter Palos took the first gold of the day in C11, before Anna-Carin Ahlquist of Sweden took the women’s C3 crown.
Russian Raisa Chebanika won the women’s C6 title after comprehensively defeating Ukraine’s Antonina Khodzynska.
Holger Nikelis of Germany and China’s Shuai Zhao won the final golds of the session in C1 and C8, respectively.
domingo, 2 de septiembre de 2012
Olympics 2012 news Nathan Stephens withdraws from Paralympics ... - WalesOnline (blog)
Nathan Stephens aiming for Paralympic glory
Welsh Paralympic athlete Nathan Stephens has withdrawn from the F57/58 discus tomorrow to ensure he is fully fit for the javelin on Saturday.
UK Athletics confirmed the double amputee had pulled out of the discus as a precaution as he is still recovering from an adductor problem.
The 24-year-old from Bridgend is a gold medal contender in the javelin, his main event, having won the world title last year.
sábado, 1 de septiembre de 2012
Olympics 2012 news Welsh swimmer Nyree Kindred sets new ... - WalesOnline (blog)
lunes, 27 de agosto de 2012
Olympics 2012 news Paralympic athletes prepare for 2012 games at ... - WalesOnline (blog)
Paralympic athletes from the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Samoa, India and Australia have been taking advantage of the excellent training facilities at Cardiff Met’s National Indoor Athletics Centre (NIAC) in Cyncoed as they prepare for the start of the Paralympic Games in London next week.
Disciplines including discus, shot put, and high jump have been represented as the athletes – many of whom have never visited the UK before – prepare for the biggest sporting event of their lives.
Fully equipped to international standard, NIAC was the first purpose-built indoor athletics facility in the UK and, as well as playing host to some of the best athletes in the world, is utilised fully by students on sports courses, student clubs and the general public. Governing bodies of sport, including Welsh Athletics and the Welsh Netball Association (WNA) also use this facility on a regular basis.
Solomon Islands coach, Faamoana Topule, whose athlete Hellen Glenda Saogaha is training hard for her shot put event said he was extremely impressed by both Cardiff, and particularly the facilities available at NIAC.
“We have nothing like this available at home so for Hellen to be able to train here at NIAC and take advantage of such great training facilities is just perfect.
“It’s our first time in the UK and we’ve had such a lovely welcome in Wales and have even loved the weather! We’re looking forward to doing great things in London.”
Fiji coach Fred Fatiaki added: “Our athletes are very fortunate to be able to come and train in such a great environment. We’ve had such a good experience, we now hope to be able to continue to build relationships with Cardiff Met and would love to come back and train here ahead of the Fiji Paralympics”.
Speaking on behalf of Cardiff Met, Dean of Cardiff School of Sport, Dave Cobner, said:
“It’s an absolute honour to provide our services to the visiting paralympic athletes in preparation for the London 2012 games.
“We have fantastic sports facilities at Cardiff Met which clearly meet the training needs of all the teams.
“On behalf of everyone at the School of Sport, I would like to wish all our past and present students – including Nathan Stephens (javelin), Stephen Thomas (sailing) and Aled Sion Davies (shot put) - every success in this year’s Paralympic Games.”