Five More Medals For Team GB Tennis Players At Special Olympics
Wednesday, 10th October 2007
Special Olympics Team GB Tennis Players have completed their events at the 12th Special Olympics World Summer Games in Shanghai, China with a magnificent total medal haul of five Gold medals, two Silver medals and two Bronze medals after a superb final day on Wednesday that included three Gold medals.
Having already secured a Men's Doubles Gold medal on Tuesday Leicestershire's Thomas Styles (Melton Mowbray) won another Gold in his Men's Singles event on Wednesday after defeating Salvatore Famao of Germany 6-1 in his final. Earlier in the week Styles had beaten Youssef Gadalla of Egypt by the same score to reach the final
Scotland's Stephen McEwan (East Kilbride), already a Men's Doubles Bronze medallist, also clinched a Men's Singles Gold medal on Wednesday after defeating Australia's Peter Kerin 6-2.
The third Gold medal of the day went to Leicestershire's Zara Jurenko (Muxloe). Jurenko added to Tuesday's Women's Doubles Silver medal when defeating Karla Galan of El Salvador 6-2 to top the podium in her Women's Singles Division.
Having also played off for a Gold medal Wales' Lucy Pethig (Gelli, Rhondda) had to settle for a Silver after her final Women's Singles match as she slipped to a 0-6 defeat to Yalan Xue of China.
Team GB's fifth medal of the day on Wednesday was won by Scotland's Kevin Hogan (Glasgow). Hogan defeated Hans Anders Vanbrackle of the United States 6-2 in his last Men's Singles match and ends his Games with Bronze medals in both singles and doubles events.
Wednesday's successes mean that all six members of the Team GB Tennis Squad will come home from Shanghai with both singles and doubles medals, while the squad as a whole, led by coaches Lesley Whitehead and Geraint Richards, have surpassed the total of seven medals, including three golds, that Team GB tennis players won at the last Special Olympics World Summer Games in Dublin in 2003.
Final Medals Statistics:
| Peter Millar | Tranmere, Wirral | Men's Singles GOLD | Men's Doubles GOLD |
| Tom Styles | Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire | Men's Singles GOLD | Men's Doubles GOLD |
| Stephen McEwan | East Kilbride, Scotland | Men's Singles GOLD | Men's Doubles BRONZE |
| Kevin Hogan | Glasgow, Scotland | Men's Singles BRONZE | Men's Doubles BRONZE |
| Zara Jurenko | Muxloe, Leicester | Women's Singles GOLD | Women's Doubles SILVER |
| Lucy Pethig | Gelli, Rhondda | Women's Singles SILVER | Women's Doubles SILVER |