For the fourth consecutive year, the Bowls Scotland National Championships included disciplines that para bowlers compete in, and once again, we witnessed some highly competitive matches across the five physically disabled and visually impaired competitions.

Bowls is a hugely inclusive sport and Bowls Scotland have embraced the inclusion of para disciplines within their showpiece event that draws large crowds to Northfield every year.  The para bowls competitions always attract a lot of spectators and this year was no different.

This year’s competitions feature Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games bowlers Robert Barr, his director Sarah Jane Ewing, Garry Brown and Mike Nicoll, and several newcomers to the Championships, with all receiving the applause and support of the crowds on Green B on Friday.

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Notably, John Fox of Spateston BC competed in the gents’ visually impaired B2/B3 competition but was also in the gents’ pairs in the main draw, where he and Alistair Pratt reached the third round.

The finals day on Saturday was delayed due to adverse weather but the fixtures did get underway around 1230, with the results as follows:

B7/8 Men
Garry Brown 21 v 18 Daniel Porter

B6 Men
Billy Allan 21 v 14 Mike Nicoll

B7/8 Ladies
Barbara McMillan (Best of 3 matches)

B2/B3 Men
Ian Graham 21 v 13 Sandy Mackintosh

B2/B3 Ladies
Melanie Inness 21 v 11 Mary Stevenson

With two weeks to go until the CPISRA World Games, Scottish Disability Sport is delighted to confirm the full team to represent Scotland.  The Games will take place in Sant Cugat, Spain from the 6 – 12 August 2018.

As a member of the Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association (CPISRA) Scottish Disability Sport has a longstanding tradition of competing in the event having been most recently represented in Nottingham in 2015.

The event is seen as an ideal opportunity for aspiring world class athletes, with Cerebral Palsy, to compete in a high performance multi-sport event.  This type of experience and exposure is essential on the athlete journey, prior to selection for more high profile competitions, such as the Paralympic or Commonwealth Games.

Scotland will be represented by 18 athletes in the sports of athletics, boccia and swimming.

Gary Fraser, Team Manager, said: “We have been working closely with our partner SGB’s to select a team of athletes that are on an upward trajectory within their sport and can use this event as a spring board for future success.  Preparations are going well and we have a great team of support staff and coaches”

 

Meet the Team and click here for team profiles

 

Midway through the Inas European Summer Games, the Great Britain Team has secured its place firmly on the medal table. Strong performances across all four sports have to date produced 4 Golds and 2 Bronze medals with very real prospects of more to come.

Whilst the story continues to unfold in Paris, today, day 4 of competition, we review some of the successes so far.

Athletics

The five strong British competitors faced an equally strong international field but got their campaign underway straight away.

Making his international debut, Sam Fernando held his nerve in a tough endurance race taking a well-deserved bronze medal (33’59” 76) in the 10,000m with his team mate, Chris McMillan securing 5th place (35’45″64) in his first international for GB.

Declan Manning whilst missing out on a podium finish, produced another PB and secured 4th place in the shot.

Monday also saw Charlotte Cox make her Inas debut registering solid performances in the long jump, shot and 100m, Cox securing her the Gold medal in the Triathlon with 918 points.

Keen to earn that coveted podium place, Declan Manning pushed hard and took the bronze medal (34m 63) in the discus securing his first medal of the Championships.  Sam Fernando, not content with just one medal, knocked an incredible 6 seconds off his PB claiming the Gold medal in the men’s Steeplechase in a performance of 10’04″64.  Nathan Fleetwood progressed to the final of the 200m, and will continue his bid for glory later in the week.

Cycling

Storming to victory, on Monday, Kiera Byland swiftly placed Great Britain on the medal table taking Gold in the cycling time trial (10:30,20).  Motivated by success she was keen to repeat performances on day 2 in the ladies road race.

Byland was heavily marked in the race, especially by the Russian riders. With just a lap and half to go she executed her breakaway plan perfectly and split the other riders getting a 10 second gap by the end of that lap.  A superbly accomplished ride and combining her confidence in the last lap Byland claimed her second Gold medal of the Championships in a time of 53:32.

Clear from the outset was that the men’s race had the strongest field for many years.  Ruairidh Brown, focussed on his plan and stuck to it.  Secured in a small bunch of eight riders, Ruairidh held his own with the other medal contenders.  In the last 9 kilometres, the race winning attack was made with riders from Belgium and Ecuador escaping the small bunch.

Keeping his nerve, Brown continued with the plan but the super-fast sprint of the leaders proved too much, with him finishing in seventh place, 1m 40secs behind the winner, but improving his performance and placing on the last World Championships.

Swimming

Rachel Tweedie whilst missing out on the podium so far, has progressed to finals in all her races and secured a PB in the 50m freestyle.

Missing out on a podium place, Tweedie placed 4th in the 200IM in 3:09.96.

Tennis

The Great Britain Tennis Team have certainly lived up to their reputation storming through the competition and scuring positions in the later stages.

The world no.1 pairing of Fabrice Higgins and Dominic Iannotti took a comfortable win against the Czech Republic’s Josef Hus and Jakub Jerhot in the men’s doubles, winning 6-0.

Dominic Iannotti and partner Anna McBride stormed through to the semi-finals and will face top seeded Kelly Wren and Archie Graham from Australia for a place in the final. McBride also secured her place in the ladies singles semi-final.

Meanwhile, Turnbull and Mellow missed out on a place in the men’s doubles main draw but will play their next match in the doubles consolation event.

The Inas European Summer Games includes the Inas World Championships in Tennis and Cycling. Competition continues today (Thursday, day 4) Follow the results.

The GB Tennis entry to the Inas Championships is enabled through a collaboration between the GB Inas member, UK Sports Association and the National Governing Body, the Tennis Foundation

More information on the Inas Summer Games in Paris can be found on the event website.

If you haven’t been following the BocciaBucket progress before now, this is all the encouragement you need!

The BocciaBucket Challenge was brought about to raise awareness of the sport of boccia in the lead-up to the BISFed World Championships being held in Liverpool this August. The campaign is a variation on boccia, designed to provide an insight into certain aspects of the game in a fun and inclusive way. Anyone can play boccia, and we want everyone to know it.

Our communication team headed out to Scotstoun this week to watch several members of the Glasgow Warriors Rugby Club having a go. Boccia professional and World No 1 Stephen McGuire was on hand at the scene to give the lads a quick tutorial and some expert advice before they took on the challenge themselves. After an initial period of warming up, they started to get the hang of it and gave Stephen a real game!

You can watch the challenge here:

We would like to thank the Glasgow Warriors for fitting this in to their very busy training schedule to help raise awareness of boccia in Scotland and the forthcoming BISFed World Championships. A special thanks to Ryan Wilson, Adam Ashe, Alex Dunbar and Huw Jones for doing the challenge.

We look forward to seeing if Edinburgh Rugby answer the nomination and are excited to see what they come up with!

If you haven’t uploaded your own video yet or nominated anyone, get involved!

You can follow the campaign through our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

#BocciaBucket #GetInvolved

Want to know more about boccia? Watch this short video: https://www.bisfed2018worldboccia.com/news/2018/6/24/brand-new-boccia-animation

or contact Scottish Disability Sport by telephone at 0131 317 1130 or email at admin@scottishdisabilitysport.com.