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July - August 2007 - Newsletter
Australian Athletes with a Disability Australian Athletes with a Disability has called for applications for its first round of funding grants for the 2007-2008 year. Applications close 10 September 2007, application forms can be found on the AAWD website. Bianca van Woesik will return from maternity leave the week commencing Monday 6 August. Bianca can be contacted via email bianca@sports.org.au or phone 02 9763 5819. Wheelchair Sports Australia The WSA Futures Fund Committee recently met in Melbourne to consider nominations for the inaugural awards to be made from this Fund. The Committee was Chaired by Mr Neville-Smith, a Melbourne-based businessman who has been instrumental in raising the initial funding for these awards. A total of ten athletes were successful in obtaining an award in the first round of funding. Sports News Archery The national archery records and ranking list have been updated and can be viewed on the AAWD website at http://www.sports.org.au/sport/archery.html. Congratulations to Mark Tomkins from Victoria on his recent record-breaking performance in the 30m men’s compound event Athletics Records Wheelchair Sports Australia and Athletics Australia have combined their respective underage records and Athletics Australia will now be responsible for keeping the one set of records. The records can be found on the Athletics Australia website at http://www.athletics.com.au/community/statsdata/records World Athletics Championships Australian wheelchair racer Kurt Fearnley has qualified for the 11th IAAF World Athletics Championships in Osaka. With only the top two racers from each heat and the next two fastest qualifying for the 1500m exhibition race, Fearnley was under immense pressure to perform. In the tight, tactical, second heat, Fearnley triumphed over Thai racer Wahoram Prawat and the U.S.A's Josh George assuring his spot in Japan. After a quick first heat Fearnley new a top two finish was his only way through. He said " These qualifying races have a history of getting ugly. Everyone is pushing for only a couple of spots so there's almost always a crash. But I knew that if I kept my nose clean and could be near the front with a few hundred metres to go I had the speed to win it." The exhibition race will have an international flair with qualifiers from Mexico, Switzerland, France and the UK lining up against Fearnley and the Asian contingent of Prawat and three Japanese athletes. On current form, Fearnley is a definite chance to bring home a medal with UK rival David Weir being the biggest threatWheelchair Basketball 2009 U23 World Championships IWBF President Maureen Orchard and Competitions Commission President Ron Coppenrath have announced the 2009 U23 Championship will be held from 7 July until 15 July 2009 in Paris, France. Gliders The Australian Women’s Wheelchair basketball team, the Gliders, were narrowly defeated 55-53 in the Gold Medal game of a Four-Nations Friendly tournament held in Bankstown, Sydney. Australia, World and Paralympic Champions Canada, World Number three Germany and Japan contested the tournament. WNWBL Round four of the Women’s National Wheelchair Basketball League will be held in Sydney 3-5 August. Currently the Hills Hornets are on top of the ladder visit http://wnwbl.sports.org.au/ for further details. Rollers The Great Britain men’s team coached by Murray Treseder are currently touring Australia in their preparations for the IWBF Europe Qualifying Tournament (for Beijing) in Germany in late August.
NWBL Noel Rowsell reports the latest NWBL action has seen the Wollongong Roller Hawks defeat the West Sydney Razorbacks 96-58 and the Wheelkings record back-to-back victories over the Brisbane Spinning Bullets. The loss takes the Razorbacks record this season to four wins and four losses and pushes them down the competition ladder. The Razorbacks were stunned by the form of Australian Paralympian Tristan Knowles (Roller Hawks), who has recently been reinstated to the Australian team (Rollers). The Wenty Leagues Wheelkings recorded back-to-back victories over the Brisbane Spinning Bullets, winning 87-62 on Saturday night and 89-71 on Sunday at the Carina Basketball Stadium. Australian representative Jeremy Van Asperen was out of action for the Wheelkings for this road trip but his absence failed to disrupt the plans of head coach Gerry Hewson, who gave talented youngster Bill Latham the opportunity to lead his team over the two games. Latham responded with a tally of 66 points and 48 rebounds over the two games, guiding his teammates to impressive victories. Football NSW have taken out the National CP Football Championships after defeating Queensland and a combined state team at the National Championships held in Sydney. Due to the rain and floods in Sydney the format of the competition had to be changed with some games played indoors on a slightly smaller field. Round results were as follows:
This meant the final would be between NSW and QLD. NSW took an early lead with a goal to Chris Restall in the 5th minute of the match. Just ten minutes later David Barber equalised and they everyone knew this was going to be a great final. The scores stayed that way until half time. The second half started with the same passion as the first and it was a tussle to see who would take control of the game. It took an excellent piece of work from Jeremy Thorpe to break the deadlock in the 45th minute of the game to give QLD a 2-1 lead, however NSW immediately hit back in the next minute with a goal to Brett Fairhall, score was now 2-2. Three minutes later QLD took the lead through another goal to David Barber for QLD to lead 3-2. The game became very intense and it looked like the title was about to head to QLD for the first time. However the NSW players never say die attitude was rewarded with a goal with one minute to go and levelled the score at 3-3. We were heading for overtime. The overtime was to be two 10-minute halves and if there still wasn’t a winner we would be heading towards the dreaded penalty shootout. Three minutes into extra time NSW took the lead with a second goal to Brett Fairhall. NSW continued to press hard to break away from the QLD team and were rewarded with another goal 6 minutes later to take a 5-3 lead. As with the many clashes in the state of origin you cant keep a Queenslander down for long when David Barber scored his third goal in the 75th minute and set-up an exciting last 5 minutes of the match. The score was now NSW 5 QLD 4. Chris Restall put the final result beyond doubt in the 79th minute of the game when he scored his third for the match as well. The final score being NSW 6 defeated QLD 4 and this meant NSW retained the National title for the 4th year in a row. The biggest winner on the day was CP Football as it has now come of age. The quality of the football being played by these players on a surface they were not use to was something to be believed. NSW have a genuine threat to their rain as National Champions now from the QLD team as they have developed greatly over the past 12 months. The QLD team must be congratulated on their efforts throughout the final and the weekend, it really looked like the National Title was heading to QLD for the first time. The award winners were as follows:
Lawn Bowls WSA recently called for nominations for its Lawn Bowls Committee, David Bailey (South Australia) was elected Chair of the Committee, and the other members of the Committee are:
Wheelchair Rugby Round three of the Telstra National Wheelchair Rugby League will be held in Melbourne, 10-12 August. Currently the SA Sharks are proving the team to beat currently leading the table with six wins from six games. Visit http://rugby.sports.org.au/ for further information. Table Tennis Arafura Games The 2007 Arafura Games were held in Darwin from May 12th to May 19th. The Arafura Games are a multi-sport event held every two years in Darwin and attract participants from around the world. This year’s Arafura Games incorporated the 2007 Oceania Paralympic Championships. For the first time athlete with disabilities (AWD) events were contested at the Arafura Games. The International Paralympic Table Tennis Committee sanctioned Arafura Games gave Australian athletes a vital chance to gain international ranking points on home soil. The Australian Team for the Arafura Games was: Julie Davis (VIC), Patrick Horn (ACT), Rebecca Julian (VIC), Sarah Lazzaro (VIC), David Moffatt (SA), Catherine Morrow (VIC), Adam Sanders (NSW), Jane Wallis (VIC) and Steven Watts (VIC). Head Coach was Keith Mundy and Assistant Coach was Nicole Freeland. Other Australians who competed were: Jannik Blair (VIC), Daniel Chaplin (VIC), Benjamin Hall (SA), Timothy Jericho (SA), Mark McAulay (NSW), Nadia Moffatt (SA), John Pierce (SA) and Michael Tomlinson (VIC). Australian athletes recorded improved international performances at this tournament. A highlight was Australia topping the medal tally at the end of the tournament. Final medal tally:
Medal winners were: Gold – Women’s Class 1-5 Wheelchair Singles – Catherine Morrow (VIC) 2007 Hong Kong Open In the continuing quest to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games, Australian athletes will be competing in the 2007 Hong Kong Open in July. The Hong Kong Open will be an extremely strong tournament and has attracted record entries. Paralympic Preparation Program The Paralympic Preparation Program squads selected for July 1st – December 31st 2007 are: High PerformanceJulie Davis (VIC) Patrick Horn (ACT) Keith Mundy Tenpin Bowling Lyn Beebe reports the Victorian Amputee Sports Association entered a team of six athletes in the 9th National Disabilities Tenpin Bowling Championships held at the Noarlunga Bowl. David Skerrett - B Grade Doubles - Bronze Medal Next year the Championships will be held in Canberra. Volleyball The Australian Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team attending a training camp in Sydney from 30 June - 2 July 2007 prior to their departure to China for their first International Tournament. Watch the AAWD website for results of their first tournament. Calendar of Events 2007 (*Subject to alterations)
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to alterations If you have any articles, news items or information that you would like included in our monthly newsletter, please email details to info@sports.org.au . Whilst we will do our best to include your stories, we do not guarantee publication of all articles due to either space or content restrictions. We also reserve the right to edit any content prior to its publication in our newsletter. Information should be received prior to the 20th of each month. |
