RMA Sport National Wheelchair Tennis Series- Taunton Tennis Club

Ellis Crow — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 08:34:50 +0000

Ben Johnson-Rolfe won the main draw singles title at Taunton Wheelchair Tennis Tournament over the weekend. The 18-year-old was among the latest players to add their names to the RMA Sport National Wheelchair Tennis Series roll of honour.

A finalist in Loughborough at the first National Series event of 2017, Johnson-Rolfe bowed at the Warwick and Grantham tournaments in the quarter-finals. On both occasions, he lost out to Philip Fielding, but Johnson-Rolfe turned the tables on top seed Fielding in Taunton, edging their semi-final 6-3, 3-6, (10-6).

With Punga having beaten second seed Steve Compton in the quarter-finals, the sequence of close finishes continued in the final. Johnson-Rolfe claims another highly competitive contest 7-6, 1-6, (10-6) for his best result of 2017 so far.

Fielding and Punga joined Johnson-Rolfe and Crompton in reaching the main draw doubles final with relative ease. However, this time it was Fielding and Punga that came out on top. They gained the all-important breaks of serve to win 7-5, 6-4.

Making her tournament debut in a borrowed tennis chair, Fay Dutfield-Horton, won the novice singles title. Dutfield-Horton said of the win: “As an Empowerment Coach, this win has given me the confidence in my own development as a player as well as supporting other to achieve their goals.”

Four of the six matches in the first two rounds ended in 6-0 victories. Kevin Lewis earned back-to-back 6-0 wins as he booked his place in the final. Meanwhile, Dutfield-Horton also won her semi-final against Tabitha Fung without dropping a game. However, the final proved to be an entirely different contest, Dutfield-Horton eventually emerging as the victor 7-5, 7-6(4).

Alexander de Styrcea and Fung took the honours in the novice doubles, winning both their matches in straight sets. That included a 6-0, 6-0 win over runners-up Wendy Tighe and William Johnson.

Fay Dutfield-Horton, winner of the Novice Singles.

“As an Empowerment Coach, this win has given me the confidence in my own development as a player as well as supporting others to achieve their goals.”

With Johnson-Rolfe, who represented Great Britain at the 2016 World Team Cup, winning the main draw singles, the junior singles in Taunton went to another player to recently making his international debut for his country. Fourteen-year-old Alex Chaston collected a 4-0 win, three 4-1 wins and a 4-2 victory to remain unbeaten in his five round-robin contests.

The next RMA Sport National Wheelchair Tennis Series event takes place at Gosling Sports Park on 17-18 June 2017.

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Strictly Wheels Take Home Silver!

Ellis Crow — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 18:17:06 +0000

2017 Cuijk Para Dance Sport Championship

Cuijk is the largest wheelchair dance competition in the world, now having carried out its 29th year. Competitors of all levels from Debutante to Amateur and Para Dance Sport gather together for two full days of dancing in Holland. With the increasing popularity of the new Singles and Freestyle events, this year’s competition spanned three days to include these categories.

Singles and Freestyle

Representing Great Britain, Paula Moulton took to the floor in the Single Ladies 1 event, dancing five dances with grace, enthusiasm and strength to take 4th place behind Ukraine and Poland’s best.

Friday afternoon also saw the Single Men battling it out on the floor with a welcome return from Ukraine’s Ivan Sivak stealing the Gold from Poland’s Pawel Karpinski with some spectacular moves.

Pictured above: Gary Lyness & Paula Moulton.

“It was such a wonderful feeling to be out on the dancefloor competing again after the winter months, especially now with my new chair! I am turning faster and have more controlled movement- it’s brilliant!” -Paula Moutlon

Pictured above: Gary Lyness & Paula Moutlon.

“This was our first competition of 2017 and the first time competing at the IPC level at this competition, so it was a challenging event. We have some new choreography, and it’s sometimes difficult to gauge how this plays out on the competition floor once you get other dancers on there. You might turn around and suddenly have 3-4 other dancers in your path, so have to think on your feet (or wheels!).” -Gary Lyness

The Freestyle event had equally exceptional performances from the reigning European Champions in both Ladies Single Freestyle 2 and Combi Freestyle 2 with Olena Chynka’s performance to Bjork “It’s Oh So Quiet” taking Gold. The Combi Freestyle 2 Gold went to a powerful, contemporary dance by Poland’s Marek Zaborowski and Kasia Bloch.

Latin and Standard

Saturday and Sunday the Latin and Ballroom events experienced considerable numbers for the Debutantes and Amateur level. Dancers danced their way through heats and finals to make their mark on the adjudicators.

Great Britain’s Latin Combi couple made their appearance on Sunday afternoon in the World Para Dance Sport Finals. Gary and Paula from Strictly Wheels club, having been reclassified danced in Latin Combi 1 for the first time. The pair danced confidently to win the Silver Medal for Great Britain. Finland’s Timo Pyykkonen and Tuuli Harju, won Gold with their cha cha.

Next on the Competition Calendar

Now, Gary and Paula are looking forward to their upcoming competitions in June. The first weekend, 2-3 June 2017, Gary and Paula will be in Denmark at the Danish Open Wheelchair Dance Competition competing in Select Latin, Ladies Singles, Senior Latin and Freestyle Combi. Then, the pair will represent Great Britain at the World Para Dance Sport Mainhatten Cup in Germany a couple of weeks later.

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