This summer, the charitable trust Newport Live hosted its first Visually Impaired Tennis Competition at Newport Tennis Centre. 23 players took part in the event, which was organised by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), the national governing body of tennis in Great Britain and Luke Difranco, Tennis Manager at Newport Live. The competition was an opportunity for visually impaired players who play regularly at Newport Live’s facilities to take part in a Regional competition.
This follows Newport Tennis Centre recently also hosting the LTA Learning Disabilities Competition and Regional Wheelchair Tennis Competition, with 24 players competing as part of the Regional Competition Programme.
Visually Impaired tennis is part of the LTA’s Open Court programme, which is one of the biggest disability-specific sports development programmes in the contry. It supports 500 venues in the UK to offer disability tennis sessions to their local community.
Competitors attended from all over the UK and the winners and runner ups of the competition were as follow:
B1 Mixed Singles Winners – Gavin Griffiths & Yvette Priestley
B1 Mixed Singles Runner ups – Roy Turnham & Tracy Compton
Ladies Doubles Winners – Andrea Logan & Rosine Pybus
Ladies Doubles Runner Ups – Gillian Currie & Amanda Large
Men’s Doubles Winners – James Currie & Paul Ryb
Men’s Doubles Runner Ups – Ewan Hayward & Christian Bolton-Edenbourough
B1 Men’s Singles Winner – Roy Turnham
B1 Men’s Singles Runner Up – Naqi Rizvi
B1 Ladies Singles Winner – Yvette Priestley
B1 Ladies Singles Runner Up – Tracy Compton
B2 Men’s Singles Winner – James Currie
B2 Men’s Singles Runner Up – Daniel Hopkins
B3 Men’s Singles Winner – Paul Ryb
B3 Men’s Singles Runner Up – Cai Davies
B3 Ladies Singles Winner – Amanda Large
B3 Ladies Singles Runner Up – Andrea Logan
B4/5 Singles Winner – Ewan Hayward
B4/5 Singles Runner Up – Christian Bolton-Edenbourough
Luke Difranco, Tennis Manager for Newport Live and the Tournament Organiser said 'It has been an amazing weekend of competition at Newport Tennis Centre hosting our first Regional Visually Impaired Competition. I would like to thank all the players involved in the competition as well as the staff and volunteers whose hard work and commitment enabled us to run a successful competition”.
Claire McCulloch, LTA Tournament Director, said: “It’s been a fantastic weekend of Visually Impaired tennis in Newport, and I’d like to offer my congratulations to the winners. The success of this tournament has proven once again that tennis is a sport that can be played by anyone, and hopefully we can continue to inspire more and more people with disabilities to pick up a racket and enjoy the unique physical and mental health benefits of our sport.”
Newport Live is a charitable organisation which means the money they make is put back into the services and facilities they offer – so Newport Live customers help to support our local community.
To find out further information about Newport Live disability tennis programme visit the Newport Live website at newportlive.co.uk/tennis.
