Welsh sport issue one october 2014

WELSH SPORT

ISSUE ONE - OCTOBER 2014

INSIDE

Who will be the Welsh Sports Personality of the Year?

EXCLUSIVE: NON STANFORD ON HER MASSIVE 2015

GERAINT THOMAS’ AMAZING YEAR

Wales at the Commonwealth Games - Five page special

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Before

After

WELCOME

Editor Gary Baker at Hampden Park, Glasgow, athletics venue for the 2014 Commonwealth Games

Contents Page 4&5 - CYCLING. GERAINT THOMAS MBE Page 6 - Cycling. Welsh Cycling Awards Page 7 - Goodbye to the Wales Open golf Page 8&9 - EXCLUSIVE. TRIATHLON WORLD CHAMPION NON STANFORD Page 10&11 - Hockey Wales Page 12&13- Who will win the Welsh Sports Awards?

Page 15, 16, 17, 18 & 19 - WALES AT THE COMMONWEALTH GAMES Page 20&21 - Disability Sport Page 22&23 - Table Tennis. European Championships Page 24 - Fencing. School Games 2014 Page 25 - Squash. Welsh Junior Open Page 26 - Weightlifting. Gareth Evans interview Page 27 - Badminton. Matthew Hughes interview Page 28 - Subscribe with us

Welcome to Welsh Sport, the magazine for all sectors of sport across our nation.

For the past eight years, I have been chief reporter of the Welsh Sport Association’s quarterly e-newsletter but now it is time to develop the publication that has served sport well for so long, from grassroots through to the biggest stages of all.

So I am delighted to bring you this online publication that aims to deliver everything that the WSA Sport newsletter achieved but in a new digital format.

Welsh Sport will work with our colleagues at the WSA, Sport Wales, and NGBs, to report on all your activities across Wales. We aim to bring you the stories and interviews with athletes, coaches and those at the helm of sport that may otherwise go unreported.

Our commitment is to give

sport at all levels a platform to be heard.

To begin with, we are reviewing the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last summer which showcased the best in Welsh sport.

We returned with 36 medals, five of them gold. I was there with Team Wales and speak to our stars in a fivepage special about the success of Glasgow.

We also look at Geraint Thomas’ amazing cycling year, speak exclusively to triathlon star Non Stanford as she heads towards a huge 2015 and feature many other stories.

We are indebted to our advertisers and our supporters for their support.

The team and I are delighted to bring Welsh Sport to you and hope you enjoy our first edition.

Page 29 - Yachting and Powerboating Page 30 - Rowing

Follow us on Twitter @welshsportmag

Gary Baker Editor

Editor - Gary Baker (www.walesandwestmedia.co.uk) Designer - Helen Taylor (www.helentaylordesign.com) Contributors: Roger Hughes; James King Pictures - © SportingWales; Monmouthshire County Council; Wales and West Media Ltd; www.swanseacity.net; Carl Difford; International Triathlon Union, Welsh Yachting Association, www. intersport-images.com

GREAT GERAINT

by Gary Baker

GERAINT Thomas signed off for the season at the end of September with a list of achievements in 2014 that could justifiably allow him to think of it as his greatest year of professional cycling. Commonwealth Games medals, his best ever finish in the sport’s greatest stage race, the Tour de France, and other places on podiums and high finishes in cycling’s Classic races all built a long list of Palmares on his formidable career CV. He rode tens of thousands of miles, week after week, from the New Year to the Autumn across all parts of the world and took in some of the toughest challenges cycling has to offer.

Yet as big as 2014 was for the double Olympic champion, Thomas knows that even greater challenges and achievements lay in wait over the coming years, particularly with the 2016 Rio Olympics Games closing in fast!

So while he enjoys a beer with his friends back in Cardiff this month, he can reflect on a year that started with the Tour Down Under in the searing Australian heat and saw him finish eighth overall after the six stages.

The Classics in the Spring on the European roads brought Thomas an eighth place in the 160-mile Tour of Flanders, the highest finish by a British rider that April day, despite crashing early on.

He was doing well in the eightstage Paris-Nice classic, finishing second on Stage Four and fourth on Stage Six but a horrible crash five kilometres from the end of the seventh leg forced him to withdraw.

Nevertheless, a seventh place over

the cobblestones of Paris-Roubaix in April set Thomas up for a summer to remember. He stormed to overall victory in the Bayern-Rundfahrt fivestage race, taking the fourth stage Time Trial along the way, before riding back home in Wales to take silver behind Team Sky colleague Sir Bradley Wiggins in the National Time Trial Championships around Monmouthshire.

Just three days later, Thomas tried valiantly to challenge the eight-man break for the National Road Race title, which finished in Abergavenny, after his chain came off climbing towards the Celtic Manor but it proved too much and he finished eighth.

A week later, he was in Yorkshire to start the 21-day Tour de France which saw him finish as the last Briton standing on the Champs-Elyees after crashes and withdrawals put paid to his Team Sky colleagues.

Then he flew straight to Glasgow

Geraint Thomas on his way to bronze at the National Time Trial Championships in Monmouthshire last June Picture: Monmouthshire County Council

from Paris to wear a Welsh jersey for the first time at a Commonwealth Games since 2006 - and came away with a bronze from the Time Trial and an incredible gold medal on a rain-soaked but amazing Road Race on Sunday August 3.

Even in the final stages of that Road Race, he caused Welsh hearts to flutter by stopping with a slow puncture just a few kilometres from the finish but, luckily, he had enough time in hand on the chasers to switch wheels and climb back on board to finish in first place.

The ultimate prize now is to be the lead rider of Team Sky at the Tour de France and hope to follow in the footsteps of Sir Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome as a winner of the converted Yellow Jersey in Paris.

But, said Thomas, that won’t be in 2015. He said: “With Froomey in the team, he is always going to be the man for the Tour, which is fine for me for the next two years.

THE GOLDEN MOMENT: Geraint Thomas wins the Commonwealth Games Road Race title in Glasgow last August Picture: Sporting Wales

“If I can have a go at the Giro (d’Italia. Tour of Italy) or the Vuelta (a Espana. Tour of Spain) as leader, it would be great and I would love it.

But next year, if I rode the Classics like Paris-Nice, the Swiss (Tour of Switzerland) or something else and then the Tour, well, to go to the Vuelta and try and do something there would be tough “Maybe in 2016, if I was to go to the Giro or the Vuelta (as team leader) to give it a good old go, then fine.”

Thomas’ success, particularly with his commitment to Team Wales at the Commonwealth Games, has been acknowledge in the highest circles across the nation.

But Welsh Cycling head coach Darren Tudor, who was part of the Games cycling management in Glasgow and has known Thomas since he was a youngster, summed up how much he has achieved in 2014.

Tudor said: “Geraint has had a fantastic year. I think this year has been one of his best - but there is still a lot more to come. He started in January with the Tour Down Under and finished in Spain with the World Championships at the end of September. There has not been a lot of rest in-between.”

The back-up of Team Sky and Wales has, of course, been vital to the successes, and Tudor said of his time with Thomas in Glasgow: “He is an outstanding athlete ant it was our job to put everything in place to make sure he came out of the Tour and was in the best shape possible for the Commonwealth Games.”

As for a lead role in one of the three Grand Tours - Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a Espania - Tudor said: “I don’t know what they (Team Sky) are thinking at the moment because there are a lot of conversations going on but, whatever, this was definitely one of Geraint’s best years.”

THE BEST OF CYCLING ANOTHER amazing year will be celebrated later this month when the second annual Welsh Cycling National awards are held at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.

Commonwealth Games stars Geraint Thomas and Elinor Barker are both nominated for the Outstanding Performance of the Year along with Rachel James, who won a Para-Cycling World Championships double.

Cardiff-born Thomas had a fantastic year in which he rode the whole Tour de France before climbing off his bike, flying to Scotland and jumping back on within days of finishing in Paris to win Commonwealth Games bronze in the Time Trial and then riding an as-

tonishing race, including a heart-stopping puncture in the final metres of the Road Race, to take gold.

Barker was also a double medallist, taking bronze in the track Scratch Race before losing gold by the narrowest of margins in the Points Race.

Meanwhile, James won everything she entered during 2014. That saw her ‘stoking’ visually impaired partner Sophie Thornhill of Stockport, (n main picture above) to gold in the World Championships Tandem B Time Trial and the Tandem B Sprint before the pair went onto take two more golds at the British National Track Championships in Manchester this September in the Para-cycling B(V) mixed Time Trial and 200m

Flying Start Time Trial.

Barker is also in line to win the Elite Cyclist of the Year award, alongside Welsh international Owain Doull and Manon Carpenter.

There are also many other categories of awards being handed out including Para cyclist of the Year in which Commonweatlh Games medallist Matt Ellis is nominated, plus Event Organiser of the Year, won last year by Abergavenny’s Bill Owen who is nominated again, and others.

And the Lifetime Contribution Award, which Owen also won in 2013, is to be handed out to an outstanding achiever to the sport in Wales.

Anne Adams-King, Chief Executive of Welsh Cycling

said: “We have had a fantastic twelve months of success for Welsh cyclists in competition, but the cycling community in Wales has also thrived and continued to develop and support the sport here in Wales.

“I know the panel had to make some tough choices during the judging process, but we thank the Welsh Cycling members for their contribution to cycling all year round.

“The shortlist of finalists is a credit to Welsh Cycling, clubs and fellow members.”

The winners will be announced on Saturday October 18.

More information about tthe evening is available from the Welsh Cycling website and tickets cost £35 for WC members.

GOODBYE, WALES OPEN

But I hope it is not completely the end, says Ryder Cup hero Donaldson FOURTEEN years after Denmark’s Steen Henning lofted the first Wales Open trophy over his head, September signalled the end of the Principality’s European Tour event - and, ironically, it came a week before the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles, Scotland.

The ambition of Welsh business tycoon Sir Terry Matthews brought golf’s greatest tournament just yards from his own birthplace, the old Manor House of the Newport complex, four years ago when stars like Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy played out the most dramatic of tournaments that Europe won on the last singles match by 14-and-a-half to 13-and-a-half points.

But the TwentyTen course, which hosted that most dramatic of Monday afternoons, plus some of the Wales Open tournaments - the early ones were over the old Montgomerie course while others were staged on the Roman Road course while the 2010 challenge was being built - will fall silent now.

By Gary Baker

The 18th at the Celtic Manor’s 2010 Ryder Cup course (above) has seen its’ fair amount of drama over the years. Now, with the Wales Open ending, what will become of the greens that saw thousands of fans cheer on Europe and the USA four years ago?

The Celtic Manor Resort is evolving. Only weeks ago, the most powerful people on earth - the NATO country leaders including US President Barack Obama - held a Summit at the venue, and now a huge conference centre, aimed at bringing more money-rich corporate events to South East Wales, is the priority.

However, Pontypridd-born Jamie Donaldson, who played the incredible shot that retained the Ryder Cup for Europe at Gleneagles, hopes it is not the last time the European Tour circuit comes to Wales.

He said: “It is very sad it is ending but I’m sure, if it is the last year, they will have another Welsh Open whether it is here or somewhere else.

“It has been too well supported and too much of a great event not to have it anymore.

We will wait and see but you never know what is going to happen in a year. Hopefully, Wales’ 2014 Ryder Cup hero Jamie Donaldson hopes they will be continuing it some- this is not the end for big-time, European Tour golf in the how.”

Principality.

EXCLUSIVE By Gary Baker

2015 - Why Stanford can’t wait!

THERE is one particular gift which Welsh triathlon star Non Stanford would cherish more than anything should it arrive on Christmas morning. It is something that money cannot buy - it is simply to be able to run well again.

Stanford cannot wait to get going and aims to be back in action around March next year after she suffered a year of frustration just twelve months after the glorious achievement of being crowned world champion in London and arriving on the global scene.

A stress fracture to her left ankle back in the Spring ruled Stanford out of a Wo-

rld Triathlon Series defence and, just as badly for a proud Welsh woman, meant there was no chance of racing for Wales in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games where she would have been a real gold medal candidate. But after months of rehab, the 25-year-old is taking her first steps back towards a 2015 year which is probably the most important of her sporting career.

For it includes a tough qualification for Team GB ahead of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which is her main goal.

Despite her injury agony, Stanford has

remained positive and focussed on the target of reaching the biggest stage of all.

The Olympics would have been a pipedream a few years after the highly-rated young middle-distance athlete struggled with continuing injuries.

Now she will battle with Wales’ own Helen Jenkins and England’s Jodie Stimpson for a place in the British team for the Olympic Games and is determined to claim her ticket to Rio. Swansea ace Stanford said: “I had two injuries which ruled me out of the season. It’s been a pretty tough year but I am fortunate to be in Leeds where I can

Swansea’s Non Stanford won the 2013 World Triathlon Series at the Grand Final in London (main pic) after winning in Madrid (above) get the help of British Triathlon and the Triathlon Support Centre in getting back to fitness. They have been phenomenal.

They have really got me through the past few months “Training has been part of my life for so long that it is unusual to be doing nothing for months on end But every athlete gets injuries at some point although it’s unfortunate that all mine came at once this year. I will have to save the Commonwealth Games for another year.

“I am a pretty positive person, though, and triathlon is, of course, a big part of my life but it is about putting things into perspective.”

Stanford’s 2013 World Series triumph was as spectacular as it was unexpected.

With global stars like Germany’s Anne Haug, the USA’s Gwen Jorgensen and Britain’s own Jodie Stimpson thought to be the dominant forces in the Elite Women’s title race, Stanford was expected to be a good athlete who will be high on the end-of-Series list but not the actual World Series champion that year.

Yet she confounded everyone with her incredible campaign. She did not compete in the first event of the Series in Auckland, New Zealand, but consistent podium performances in the next seven months which included two victories in Madrid and the Grand Final in London

winner Jorgensen.

“It will be amazing to be back in the World Series but I cannot target that because I have learnt this year that you cannot take anything for granted.”

Team GB selection is uppermost in Stanford’s schedule and, in contrast to other nations whose ruthless selection processes see them pick the first three over the line in official Trials, the British policy is tough but fair.

“Based on the last Olympic cycle for London, there is a selection race which will be in Rio (the Games test event) and you have to podium at two other events over the Olympic distance to get in the team. There will be two athletes selected like this next year, provided they get the qualification criteria, with a third added in 2016.”

So it will be important for Stanford to hit the ground running - and swimming and cycling - in March, where she may begin her comeback with a couple of low-key events towards that Olympic dream.

But just getting out on the road on December 25 would be an achievement. So why is it that she likes training on that special day when everyone else is opening presents and getting ready for a turkey lunch? Stanford said: “I love going out on Christmas morning. It’s fantastic and it is so quiet. Everyone you see are friendly and are wishing you ‘Merry Christmas’ as you are going by.

“I really hope that, as a result of everything I have been though, I will be fresher when I come back. There are a lot of girls who finished the Series this year tired as they go into another winter of training.

“I really hope that all of this during the year provides me with the opportunity to raise the bar and go for it over the next two years. I can’t wait.”

And Welsh sport fans can’t wait to see the star back in action again either!

which saw Stanford take the global title.

Priorities being what they are, though, the World Series will have to play second fiddle in 2015.

She said: “Next year you have the World Series again and there is also a new thing called the European Games which triathlon will be part of.

“We also have the test events in Rio (for the Olympics) and also qualification for Team GB for the Games so next year will be really exciting.

“I really hope that, by Christmas, I am back into the full routine. That would be fantastic. At the moment, I am just trying to hold myself back because I really want to get training again.”

Her physios have said not to do anything that could cause her injuries to re-occur but Stanford admitted it was frustrating.

“All I want is to be able to go for a run on Christmas Day. If I can do that and go for a long run, that will do for me. It will be the best Christmas present I can have.”

The new International Triathlon Union (ITU) World Series will kick-off with the Auckland leg on March 28-29. This is around the time that Stanford intends to Keep in touch with Non get back to competitive action but it may Victory in Madrid for Non Stanford on Stanford at be a bit too early to her go way mixing it with theTriathlon to the 2013 ITU World www.nonstanford.com Series title likes of newly-crowned Elite Women’s Picture: ITU

The Welsh men’s players and coaches at the Commonwealth Games

Hockey targeting talent for the future SARAH Thomas carried the flag for Hockey Wales for many years on the international stage. She made her debut for Great Britain as a 22-yearold in 2003 and, in 2012, she was part of the Team GB squad that secured an amazing achievement of winning a bronze medal at the London Olympic Games.

Thomas retired after those Games but the work of finding more talented players who can make the step up towards the Welsh national teams

and possibly further has taken new strides forward.

Hockey Wales has launched vari ous programmes this year aimed at increasing participation in the sport.

The family and friends sector is catered via Rush Hockey, while the 4689 programme targets schools and universities.

One other scheme, the 360 programme, is aimed at talent development for 13 to 18-year-old bracket.

But finding a bright new player and

nurturing them towards a possible Welsh senior career is not as simple as people on the outside would think. Indeed, it is a tough process that can go unnoticed in many sports until those talents begin to make their names as they get older.

Dan Clements, Hockey Wales’ Performance Manager, explained how the sport in our nation is driving towards their future goals.

Clements said: “We identify that it is not an easy road to the top for

Wales’ men at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow (above)

junior players. We know it will be bumpy but what we have got to do is put systems and programmes in place to help facilitate that and help them progress on their journey to the top of the game.

“We feel that what we have put in place there with the 360 Programme really identifies the nature of talent development and the peaks and troughs that those players will go through.

“The age group is 13-18 year olds so we have 14 sessions a year, with training for three hours on the pitch, one hour off and working on a Five Ring Development where we focus on technical,, tactical, psychological, physiological and lifestyle development. It is really trying to develop the whole player for that journey towards their international goal.”

Out of the many youngsters that could be a future Welsh international or Olympian, to find the players who have the potential to make a serious bid for senior careers takes skill and patience.

So how does Clements identify who can make it and, once they have done that, how do they keep them enthused during the good and bad times?

He said: “That is a tough one and perhaps the million dollar question

but what we try and do is put a sys tem in place that caters for the talent development ethos where players can identify that one day a player might be at the top of their game and the next they might be struggling because of a number of reasons.

“So it is important that we are not just focussing on talent ID, we are facilitating how players can stay in the programme when they might be hitting a bit of a trough. That is where we work with them and the coaching staff to really help them progress and achieve their goals.”

In 2015, Hockey Wales’ Under-18 squad will make strides towards their own goals when they compete in the European Championships.

The senior men’s and women’s also have European Championship dates ahead of them.

Clements added: “It is a big year for us across the board in terms of international performance. We are just conducting a review of the programme from last year and how we can improve the programmes for next year while sticking to the philosophy of trying to push our players on and push our programmes forward to achieve our goals for 2020

of being top ten in Europe.”

So what about another Team GB player from Wales? One young Welshman is making inroads and will be flying to the other side of the world this month after being calledup by the national selectors.

Clements said: “Ultimately, we want Wales to try our best to qualify for all the major tournaments and the more players we can get into the GB programme with the aim of 2020 adds to the profile and kudos of the programmes we are doing.”

“We have just had Liam Brignull selected for GB Under-21 programme which is really good news. This month, he is flying out to Malaysia for a cup competition. GB have identified this as a really good tournament in terms of player development and enhances their progression for the squad as international players.

So it is great for Liam to be selected for that.”

As of his own role, there is never a slow day for the Hockey Wales Performance Manager. “It is busy.

It is really just trying to drive those programmes and help the coaching staff and workforce to have the best environment for that development.”

Wales’ women in action at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games this summer

FANTASTIC FRANKIE

The amazing Francesca Jones won six medals at the Commonwealth Games Picture: Sporting Wales

NOBODY would suggest to Francesca Jones - Frankie - that she is a nailed-on certainty to become the BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year because she won’t have that, you would believe.

But her medal-winning brilliance at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July saw her win an amazing six medals, five silver and a gold in her last competition of her career.

That golden moment came in the individual ribbon and, with it, she wrote her name into the annals of Welsh sporting history.

She won the David Dixon Award for the outstanding athletic and fair play performance of the Games

and high praise from dignitaries, including the First Minister Carwyn Jones, at the Senedd when record-breaking Team Wales were presented to fans last month.

Francesca, 23, reflected at the ceremony at the Senedd: “It feels like a very long time ago now. I now have a different lifestyle because I am not training. It feels odd.

“But when I look back on it (the Games) it brings a smile to my face. The Team medal (which was the first) was a special moment because we have never had a team in the competition before. For us to get a team bronze or silver was unexpected.

“We have been working together for two years and put so much effort into it so it was nice to do that for everyone.”

Her feats drove not only the other gymnasts to better things but also the whole of Team Wales after they suffered a horrible pre-Games week with withdrawals and other athlete controversies.

Jones added: “I hope I inspired the gymnasts. It has been very good for rhythmic gymnastics and the team as a whole with our most successful Games ever.

“I have been told by a number of people that there are now waiting lists at gym clubs around Wales.

I know my personal club that I started off at when I

was young at Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, have had a huge amount of kids going there so it is something special in that respect.”

Now it is onto the next phase of her life which is a university course in sports massage and rehabilitation.

Then maybe onto coaching.

“I want to coach as I’m really interested in the rehab side of things. If I can help gymnasts with that I will be happy because I’ve been on quite a tough journey myself. I would love to see where I go.”

Whatever she does in the future, it will be tough for anyone to match or better Francesca Jones’ performances at Glasgow 2014.

MIGHTY MONK

Picture: www.swanseacity.net

ROGER HUGHES on an outstanding year for Swansea City manager GARRY MONK

GARRY MONK made his first big managerial decision moments after being asked by chairman Huw Jenkins to take charge of Swansea City following the departure of Michael Laudrup. “I have retired as a player” he announced.

Monk`s appointment was almost as much of a surprise as Laudrup`s dismissal, but when the chairman appoints a manager, Jenkins is looking for continuity.

Monk was still part of the dressing room he had shared with the players he was now expected to return to the `’Swansea Way’`.

The former club captain arrived in Swansea from Southampton in 2004, and had served under Kenny Jackett, Roberto Martinez, Paulo Souza,

Brendan Rodgers, and then Laudrup who all contributed to making Swansea one of the most admired teams in the Football League.

Monk inherited a squad who appeared to have lost the Swansea Way. There were a few wobbles at the end of Laudrup`s time but Monk couldn`t have had a better start with a 3-0 win over Cardiff City.

As an erudite captain, Monk could be relied upon to say the right things at the right time. Now as manager, the questions posed were being answered with words which gave encouragement to those who doubted the wisdom of appointing a former player with no managerial experience to steady a rock-

ing Premier League ship. And there were doubters who, when the fixtures came out for the start of the new season, expected Swansea to go to Old Trafford for their traditional defeat by Manchester United.

Monk and his backroom team had done their homework.

Swansea won there for the first time, and the manager’s first comment? `We could have played better.”.

Wins against Burnley and West Brom sent Swansea to the top of the table and earned Monk the Barclays Manager of the Month award for August. Deflecting the achievement from himself ,he said: “It`s a collective thing”. In Monk, Jenkins could just have found another managerial gem.

ELITE COACH OF THE YEAR CONTENDERS?

COLIN JONES WELSH boxing did not have the best of starts at the Commonwealth Games but under legendary star Colin Jones, the nation finished with a fantastic medal flourish.

When the pre-Games medal contenders were either ruled out or lost early, up stepped a whole new group to take up the fight.

Wales hoped for gold or silver but five bronze medals for Sean McGoldrick, Ashley Williams, Joe Cordina, Nathan Thorley and a first women’s medal for Lauren Price were outstanding returns and Jones was in their corners, encouraging, for every round.

JO COOMBS/ NIA THOMAS THE COACHES behind the phenomenal success at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games of multi-medal-winning rhythmic gymnastics star Francesca Jones.

But while Jones has, rightly, taken the plaudits for her achievements, the work of Coombs and Thomas in helping Jones, Laura Halford and Nikara Jenkins to silver medals in the Team event and Halford to individual bronze in the Ball discipline makes them worth candidates for a joint nomination

CRAIG EWERS IT was with pride that Welsh Judo national coach Craig Ewers fought again at the Commonwealth Games when the sport was restored to the competition.

And his work behind the scenes over the years has helped nurture talented players in the nation.

That was rewarded when Natalie Powell beat 2012 Olympic Games silver medallist Gemma Gibbons for gold in Glasgow.

To also see ten players taking the Dojo for Wales proves how much he has achieved as coach of his country.

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TEAM WALES AT THE

COMMONWEALTH GAMES BRIAN DAVIES - CHEF DE MISSION BRIAN Davies has had many challenges during his career in sport but nothing compares with being the man in charge of Team Wales at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games this year.

The Chef de Mission in Glasgow has many highlights but says he was so happy that cycling star Geraint Thomas climbed back on his bike in the last event of the Games to win gold for Wales otherwise Glasgow could have been remembered for all the wrong reasons.

Wales won an amazing 36 medals when their target was a minimum of 27.

The losses of massive medal prospects Non Stanford and Helen Jenkins in triathlon, Fred Evans (boxing) and a first-round defeat for Olympian Andrew Selby, athlete Rhys Williams, plus others left Wales up against it almost before they started.

However, the gymnastic prowess of the incredible Francesca Jones, who won six of the Welsh medal haul herself, and took the David Dixon Award as the most inspiring ath-

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

BY GARY BAKER lete of the Games, kick-started a memorable fortnight in which Davies’ mobile ‘was pinging’ with medal successes.

The last hurrah of Team Wales 2014 was at the Senedd in Cardiff Bay last month where the Welsh Government helped them celebrate the Glasgow adventure.

Davies was reunited with the team and said: “It is different as an administrator to the athletes. From an athlete perspective, you move straight on. A lot of them went to Europeans and Worlds after the Games and some have got training regimes that they have to go back to.

As an administrator, it is like it is finished - but there is only three-and-a-half years to the next one although you don’t know if you are going to be involved. So it does feel a bit final.

“It was pleasing (the Senedd evening) just to see what it means for these people to come back here and be welcomed by the First Minister and Presiding Officer.”

There was pressure on Team Wales due to the negative

news coming out of the camp. However, Davies reflected: “It was different because some of the headlines we knew way in advance to the media finding out so maybe we had come to terms with them and forgetting, perhaps, how upset we were when we heard the news for the first time, and not understanding why the media were kicking up such a fuss.

“So we were more prepared because we had come to terms with some of the negativity that was about to break.

“There was a 27-35 medal stretch so, in there, you can accommodate some of those losses (of the big names) and still hit the base target.

That was our analysis. So we were quite comfortable that there were plenty of guys that the Welsh public had not heard of who would step up and win a medal and become the next heroes.

“We knew there was that likelihood.

You lose a world champion or two, which is tough for a country of our size, but we knew there were some new he-

roes on the way.

“But to hit the stretch target and exceed it - albeit only by one medal - was pretty impressive.

Athletes, coaches and governing bodies deserve huge credit for that.

“Frankie (Jones) gave us the start and, on the Saturday, my phone did not stop pinging with another medal. In the end, we were saying ‘It’s a bronze medal.

Is that all?’

But that is the nature of sport.”

If Jones and the other medallists were heroes, the dedication of Thomas, who had ridden the

exhausting Tour de France, to pull on a Welsh jersey was simply incredible.

Davies’ highlight?

He revealed: “Geraint’s puncture was a seminal moment.

All I could think about was we had such a tough start, then it was all going well to the last event and it looked like it would end in disaster.

“Thankfully, Geraint provided THE highlight for me by holding his shirt as he crossed the line.”

Of his role, Davies said: “It is probably the hardest thing I have ever done in sport but definitely the best. I feel privileged. It is a very limited club and a complete honour for me.”

MY PRIDE IN TEAM WALES DAVIES Team Wales captain Aled Sion Davies in action at Hampden Park, Glasgow Picture: Sporting Wales

THE FUTURE of Welsh sport across all disciplines is ‘very healthy’ after a record-breaking Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, believes 2014 captain Aled Sion Davies.

Wales collected 36 medals during the fortnight of competition in the Scottish city, five of them golden ones, but already eyes have turned towards the coming years with the Rio Olympic Games in 2016 looming and the next Commonwealths on Australia’s Gold Coast taking place in 2018.

Those Games in Australia may seem a long way off yet but they will creep up quickly, as Glasgow did after the 2010 Commonwealths in Delhi, India.

And by then, Davies believes Wales’ bronze and silver medallists can be standing on top of the podium rather than on the second and third steps.

He told of his immense pride in leading his country at the Commonwealths,

saying: “For me, it was always going to be something special as part of Team Wales and something I will cherish forever. To be elected as leader of the team and to lead them in Glasgow is something I have dreamt of as a little boy.

“Not many people can say they have captained their country and I really hope I get the chance to do it again.”

The downside of Team Wales’ star name losses and exits was mitigated by the emergence of new talent. Many in the nation may have been surprised by the people who won medals and did well, but not Davies.

“I was beaming with pride and I was so proud of the guys. A lot of people said were you shocked but I wasn’t. I knew the state of Welsh sport going into this and knew how strong we were. It was the biggest and strongest team. I knew we would break the records. A lot of the stars that came through many people would

not know about beforehand.

“I knew the potential of the guys. I was hoping a few others would step up to the gold but that is sport. These are learning curves and a lot of these will be looking at Rio now and be looking for medals there. I am obviously very happy to be part of Wales’ most successful team but to be captain is something I will cherish.”

And London Paralympics star Davies, who silver in his own athletics event, the men’s F42/44 discus, in Glasgow, said he hoped the influence of the Commonwealths would help develop new talent going forward because athletes like him could not be there forever.

“To see the affect it had when were in Glasgow was amazing and to see the amount of support we had spoke for itself. The state of Welsh sport is so healthy but I can’t go on winning medals forever.

“They have to find the next guys to come through and do it when I can’t do it any

longer. The only way to do that is by inspiring them by performances. Welsh athletes are so patriotic and proud of being a part of Wales.

“When you look at stats and figures when it comes to the British team and that Wales is thirty per cent of that British team, it is very strong. We need to keep building on that and the only way we can do that is to build on grassroots.

“I look from my own area where we only had three throwers in Delhi and then we had a good seven or eight this time around and I thought it is building. A “As a Paralympian, I like to think I am inspiring people across the place. Watching the Commonwealth Games and how inclusive it was showed that there is a door that is open and a few people ought to walk through it.”

FIGHTER: Natalie Powell (white) in her Commonwealth Games semi-final Picture: Sporting Wales

NATALIE Powell kept her faith right to the end. Nothing but gold would do in the Commonwealth Games Under-78kg class in Glasgow - and that meant beating the women everyone expected to stand on top of the podium, London Olympic Games silver medallist Gemma Gibbons.

The pair had fought in training with the British judo squad previously but never met in competition. If the draw and results worked out, it could produce a spectacular showdown between the Welsh star and the English Olympian - and so it did in front of a packed audience and amid an electric atmosphere at Glasgow’s Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre.

Powell, 23, beat Canada’s Ana Laura Portuondo in the semi-finals to face Gibbons in the big showdown. She scored a waza-ari early in the four minute final and held on to that point to beat Gibbons and, in doing so,

lay down a significant marker to the British selectors ahead of the 2016 Olympics.

Yet it was always on the cards that she would win.

Powell, who is studying for a Biomedical Science degree at Cardiff University, said weeks before that only gold would do.

Back then at the Welsh Institute of Sport, Cardiff, she said: “Gold is my aim - and I will be disappointed with anything else.”

A few weeks after she had that medal hanging around her neck, Powell was at the Senedd with Team Wales and said nothing else entered her head right through competition.

She said: “I could not have asked for any more. That was just how I wanted it to go and it went as I planned.

I have got no disappointments at all. Anything other than gold and I think I would

NEVER IN DOUBT! have been disappointed but I managed to do it. It was such an amazing feeling and hopefully I get to do it again.”

As for the fight with Gibbons, Powell reflected on it, saying: “Going into it, I knew it would be quite an even match having fought her in training but never competed against her. I knew my fitness was better than hers so I was going to target that and put lots of pressure on so hopefully she would cave in. Then I would be able to last longer than her.

“I managed to pick up a score early on which I didn’t quite expect to do so early.

Then I thought this is going to be hard to keep.

“After that score, I wasn’t really thinking of getting another. I was thinking about keeping her close and gripping hard. I definitely didn’t relax. If anything, I got more heightened after I got the score but it all worked out in the end.”

Now she is looking towards the 2016 Olympics in Brazil, adding: “I will just concentrate on qualifying for Rio now. I have competitions in this end block before Christmas so I am hoping to get some good results out of this to put me in a good position for the second year of qualification.

“I am twelfth in the ranking list at the moment. I need to stay in that top 14 over the next two years which means getting five results each year and hopefully that will put me in a position where I can qualify.”

And the efforts of the Welsh judo team in Glasgow has given the sport another lift in Wales. “It was really good for Welsh Judo. We have been training really hard and there were a couple of the team who were unlucky with their draws, the refs decisions as you always have in judo.“I think at the next one we will get a lot more.”

Welsh swimming sensation Jazz Carlin took gold and silver in Glasgow (pictured) and more golds at the European Championships in Berlin. Picture: Sporting Wales

MEDALS MEAN ALL TO JAZZ

JAZZ Carlin’s year in the pool has been spectacular to say the least. Glasgow and Berlin have reaped her four major championships medallist, three of which were gold.

The 24-year-old swimming ace starred at the Tollcross Swimming Centre in Glasgow where she won a gold and silver medal in Commonwealth Games.

Her gold came in a blistering 800m freestyle, and the silver was in the 400m freestyle.

But Carlin went onto even more glory in Berlin a few weeks later where she became a double European champion for Great Britain in the same two events in which she podiumed at the Commonwealths.

Swimming for Wales

meant everything and Carlin said: “I was so nervous before the Commonwealth Games. It meant so much to me, and to have a home crowd as well was amazing.”

There was no time to crack open the bubbly after her Glasgow successes with Team Wales.

That was put on hold until late August when she arrived home from Germany and another amazing competition at those European Championships.

She explained: “There was no celebrating after the Commonwealth Games. I went straight to Majorca for a training camp and then when I came back, I did a bit more celebrating.

“My family threw me a surprise party with every-

one there so that was really nice.”

It was worth the wait until after the Europeans. Carlin said: “They were amazing. At the Commonwealth Games, we were the most successful Welsh team ever and then at the Europeans, we were the most successful British team ever so it is an honour to be part of those teams in such a short space of time.

“I am so humble to have the opportunity to be there.”

Carlin had tears of joy in Glasgow which were in contrast to tears of sadness after missing out on the 2012 London Olympic Games.

She hopes this year will be an advance towards putting those painful memories of London 2012 qualification to bed when selection

arrives for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Carlin said: “I loved racing but the Europeans were a tough field. I was really happy not just with my times but also my placings. They were really strong fields and to come out on top is a real stepping stone for the next couple of years.

“I am feeling good, I am feeling fit and I know what works for me in training now so it is just about having to move programmes because Bud (McAllister. Coach) is in Australia. It is about working on stuff that works for me and trying to make improvements as we go towards Rio.”

SALLY’S PEAKE PERFORMANCE NOT even hardened Glaswegians could have dismissed as ‘just a Scottish shower’ a torrential downpour that flooded Hampden Park on the last night of the 2014 Commonwealth Games athletics programme.

A capacity crowd braved the almost biblical rain to see a sporting superstar strut his stuff for the only time in the Games.

Jamaican sprint king Usain Bolt was the main attraction as he anchored his country’s 4x100m relay squad to a comfortable gold medal. England’s Christine Ohuruogu, the former Olympic champion, was also going for gold - it turned to bronze - in the 4x400m relay.

But at one end of the arena, Wales’ Sally Peake was enjoying her pole vault of a lifetime that, between the track events, had the crowd gripped.

She was locked in battle with Australia’s Alana Boyd, the reigning Commonwealth champion from Delhi four years earlier, and it could not have been more thrilling from a Welsh perspective.

Peake was always at a disadvantage on countback to the Australian, having cleared four metres which Boyd had decided to pass on to open with a higher vault.

But Boyd nearly blew it.

Peake cleared 4.15m on her second attempt and

Wales’ Sally Peake (above) had an incredible pole vault competition on a soaking Glasgow night Picture: Sporting Wales

4.25m on her first try yet Boyd struck out twice on her attempt at 4.15m and just got over to stay in the competition on her third go.

The heights went up as the rain hammered down. Boyd cleared 4.35m on her first attempt as Peake failed.

Knowing she had to jump higher for gold, Peake went up to 4.40m, but brought the bar down on both occasions and knew that the amazing competition would produce only silver.

But it was an outstanding performance from Peake and a few weeks later, she

reflected on her achievement saying it was ‘fun’.

“It was certainly my best performance and result in terms of being able to bring back a medal in a major competition.

O b v i o u s l y, it was not the highest height but the conditions were a bit tricky for that. It has really inspired me to move onto bigger and better things.

“I just remember it for being extremely wet, cold but amazing fun. I remember

clearing some bars and I did managed to keep the pressure on her right to the end. She managed to get it together and deserved the gold medal.

“But the crowds were absolutely amazing. They were just so supportive.

It was just a great night of athletics.”

Now she is back in winter training with coach Scott Simpson and said: “Next year, there are Worlds and Europeans going on so it will be good to make a step up into some of those championships.”

DISABILITY SPORT

SUPREME SHUTTLERS WELSH Para-Badminton celebrated a great Four Nations tournament at the Welsh Institute of Sport, Cardiff, in September with 59 participants took part across two categories Learning Disabilities (LD) and Standing.

The Welsh pairing of Lloyd Crawley and Daniel Grinter won the Class Two Men’s Doubles in the LD event for a second year running which saw the Swansea duo beating team-mate and training partner Marcony Kilminster and Mark Bartlett from England.

The match was a tight affair and could have gone the other way after Kilminster and Bartlett went one set up. The second set was very close but swung to the Welsh team by 21-19. That gave the Swansea boys momentum and they won the last set 21-15 to take gold.

Wrexham player Stephen Davies was runner-up in the Class Two Men’s Singles.

4 NATIONS BADMINTON

After beating Jon Seal (England) at the group stage, the pair met in the final but this time Seal took the title with a 21-19 win in the final set of three.

The Men’s Singles Standing SL3 event saw Daniel Bethell retain the title he won last year by defeating Alan Oliver in the final 21-8 21-9.

Bobby Griffin won the SL45 Men’s Singles Standing title. Despite losing to Anthony Forster in the group stage, Griffin won the all-important final with a comfortable 21-12 21-15 straight sets victory.

Griffin and Bethell also paired up in the doubles event and added another gold medal with Alan Oliver and Anthony Forster finishing as runners-up..

The Ladies Singles saw Nadine Walmsley overcome Katie O’Neill in another

three-set final after going down in the first set.

It was a great comeback

by Walmsley as O’Neill had taken the first set 21-8.

Walmsley hit top form to win 21-15, 21-11 for gold.

The Mixed Doubles saw Cardiff’s Jack Wilson partner Abi Richards from England. Both players played extremely well and in doing so picked-up the mixed doubles title with a well-deserved win against finalists Colin Leslie and Walmsley.

James Phillips, tournament co-ordinator for Para Badminton, said he and everyone at the event had a enjoyable day of tremendous competition.

Phillips said: “We had 48 LV people playing which was a rise from 15 last year.

It is always a great event and the players said that they thoroughly enjoyed it.”

For all the results from each section of compeititon at the event, go to www.badmintonwales.net/ blog/4-nations-disabled

THOMAS’ DOUBLE BOCCIA

WALES’ Jacob Thomas became a double World Championships medallist in Beijing as he followed his silver in the BC3 category pairs with a bronze in the BC3 singles.

Thomas was defeated narrowly 5-4 by Korea’s Han Soo Kim in the semi-final but recovered well to defeat Greece’s Greg Polychronidis 4-1 and earn bronze.

Earlier, Thomas, Scott McCowan and Patrick Wilson lost 6-1 to Korea in the BC3 pairs final Martin Davis, from Cardiff, was also part of the bronze-medal winning BC1/2 Fours team. They beat Slovakia 6-2 after losing out to Brazil in their semi-final.

DISABILITY SPORT

EUROPE GREATS SHINE IN SWANSEA

LONDON Paralympic Games star Aled Sion Davies (pictured right) made up for his disappointment at losing out on a Commonwealth Games title by taken two gold medals at the IPC European Paralympic Championships in Swansea a few weeks later.

Davies won both the men’s F42 discus and the F42 shot in a tremendous tournament that brought the best athletes from across the continent to West Wales.

The 23-year-old from Bridgend threw 46.46 metres to comfortably take the discus title ahead of Luxembourg’s Tom Habscheid, who threw 40.98m for silver, and bronze winner Dechiko Ovcharov, of Bulgaria, who took the discus out to 38.22m.

The Welsh Commonwealth Games captain followed that with gold in the shot. This time he threw

13.66m, with Germany’s Frank Tinnemeier second with 12.51m and Croatia’s Mladen Tomic, with 12.20m in bronze.

Cwmbran’s Kyron Duke was also a double medallist. He took silver in the F41 men’s javelin with a throw of 36.70m behind Germany’s Mathias Mester, who took gold with 38.69m.

Duke, who also won silver

in the event at the World Championships in Lyon last year, then stepped up to take another second place in the F41 men’s shot where he threw 11.96m behind Poland’s Barlosz Tyszkowsski.

Sprinter Rhys Jones, of Church Village, also medalled with a bronze in the T37 men’s 100m where he finished in 12.08secs behind Russian duo Andrey Vdovin, who took gold in 11.49secs, and silver medallist Chermen Kobesov, who clocked 11.63secs.

It was an outstanding few days for Wales, and Davies said his initial doubts about holding such a big event were proved wrong. “To be honest, when I heard that the European Championships were coming to Swansea, I was a bit sceptical about it. You are talking about IPC athletics which is massive and to put it on at a scale like that in Wales was going to be a

tough challenge.

“But fair play to John Morgan and all the guys who were behind it, they stepped up and delivered.

They put on an event which was absolutely phenominal. These guys came from all over Europe and delivered performances to remember.

“It was ecstatic to be part of that but it bodes well for

the future too in terms of bidding for major events in Wales. It is exciting to show what could happen if we are given more resources, bigger venues and a bigger budget.

“To see the response of Swansea and from the people who came out was great. Let’s hope we can get more events like that.”

As for his own best moments of the Championships, he said: “For me, it was winning that second gold on the Saturday night

and the whole crowd singing ‘Delilah’. It was something I had never witnessed before in a Welsh-dominated crowd.

“It was amazing and I just wanted to make sure I ended my season on a high. I had a taste of silver at the Commonwealths and I didn’t like it so to finish on the two golds is something I was happy about. Also to do it in my ‘back garden’ is something very special to me.”

Star in the making: Wales’ Charlotte Carey

Going for

Number 1

WALES could find themselves among the best there is on the Continental circuit in two years after a tremendous European Championships in Portugal for both the men’s and women’s sides this September.

It is not beyond the realms of possibility that the nation’s men could reach the top division at next year’s Championships after dazzling in Lisbon this time around.

The four-man team of player-coach Ryan Jenkins, his brother Stephen, Daniel O’Connell and Mike Marsden won the third tier of the European Championships competition which has given them promotion to the next level for 2015.

They will be playing the likes of Italy, England and Switzerland next year after finishing 33rd in the competition in Lisbon, which was the best they could possibly do in their tier.

Now, they will play for 17th to 32nd in 2015 and, should they win that promotion, it will catapult Wales to the top level of the sport in Europe.

And the fantastic exploits of Wales were not just confined to the men’s team. The women’s side, lead by rising star Charlotte Carey from Ebbw Vale, and including team-mates Chloe Thomas and Megan Phillips, are already in the second tier of their competition and, even without stalwart Naomi Owen, who retired from playing after the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, the Welsh women roared to an excellent 24th place.

The successes delighted Ryan Jenkins who said: “Next year, we will be in the second tier when the European Championships are played in Russia and it is another step upwards for the men’s team.

“We beat Holland 3-2 in the final match for promotion. Because we came 32nd in the division, it means we go up to play for a 17-32 place next year.

“And if we can gain promotion from that, we will play in the 1-16 division - and it is achievable if our youngsters progress to the next level.”

Proof that it is not just a pipedream to become the best in Europe was found in the final of this year’s men’s tournament.

There, home country Portugal, with three excellent players in their squad, beat the powerful Germans to cause what was a big upset.

Jenkins said: “Eight years ago, Portugal were down with us in our tier. You have to have the abil-

Table Tennis Wales national coach Ryan Jenkins

ity within your side and Portugal have three strong men at this point of time who are very good.

“It is not about luck. Their number four and five men are not strong but they had those good players above them playing well - and that is what Wales would like.”

Meanwhile the women’s side produced excellent displays with Carey, the reigning Welsh senior women’s champion, leading by example throughout the competition which may well have opened the eyes of the Olympic selectors about including her in the Rio squad.

Jenkins said: “Charlotte beat the English number one Kelly Sibley, who was a medallist at the Commonwealth Games, by 3-2. Charlotte was 10-5 down in the decider and came back to win it 12-10.

“I think she will be looking to become British number one soon if she keeps progressing like this.

“Rio is an outside possibility for Charlotte so if there is a British team going to Rio, I am sure Charlotte will be involved.”

A good showing next year in the World Championships in China would not do Carey or any of the Welsh team any harm as they look at another Commonwealth quest on Australia’s Gold Coast in 2018.

But these European Championships for both the men’s and women’s teams were very good stepping stones for the sport in Wales as it begins to show to the rest of the UK and Europe that our talented youngsters are coming of age.

SEVEN MEDAL GLORY

Jack Cafero (left) on his way to an epee bronze at the UK School Games

Pictures: Carl Difford

FENCING

WALES returned from the UK School Games with a magnificent seven fencing medals and a great deal of praise for their efforts in Manchester.

The men’s sabre and epee teams topped the achievements by both coming away from competition with silver medals.

The women’s epee and sabre squads were also successful, landing bronze medals in their disciplines, while Nathan Potter (men’s sabre), Ethan Ridsdale (men’s foil) and Jack Cafaro (men’s epee) all took bronze medals in their contests.

Wales beat Northern Ireland to reach the men’s team sabre final before

going down to England.

And Wales beat Scotland in their semi-final to again face England for the men’s team epee gold medal before losing.

Wales went down to eventual runners-up Scotland in their women’s team epee semi but beat Northern Ireland to take the bronze. The women’s team sabre squad lost to England in their semi but had no play-off for the third place so took bronze.

Potter beat Scotland’s Kyle Cooke and then Welsh team-mate Ethan Ren in the quarter-finals before losing out to England’s Will Halliwell to take men’s sabre bronze.

Risdale came past Welsh team-mate Sam Tushingham and England’s Michael Koudou for a place in the men’s foil semi-finals but lost to England’s Daniel Kiss, who won gold, for a place in the final.

And Jack Cafaro had a great tournament, beating

The Welsh quartet that won the Team Epee bronze medal at the UK School Games

Scotland’s Martin Gordon and Northern Ireland’s Jonathan Burnside on the way to the semis where he lost to England’s Harrison Nichols.

Team captain Lyn Robinson said: “The entire Welsh team, showing determination, confidence and tremendous team spirit, are to be commended on their efforts in Manchester. Some sterling individual and well fought team matches enabled Wales to achieve a collection of medals.

“Nathan Potter, in this

his last games, in particular should be commended on his great effort, fencing whilst nursing an ankle injury, “Ethan Ridsdale, also in this his last Games, fought well to achieve a bronze in the individuals to accompany his bronze in 2013 and silver in 2012.”

Robinson added: “Jack Cafaro, in his first Games was a force to be reckoned with, his fleche caused his opponents a lot of problems, helping him to take the bronze.”

RACQUET RECORD

RECORD participants made the Welsh Junior Open this year a huge success. The tournament in Cardiff between September 19-21 saw so many players enter that there were five hundred matches played across six courts at the Sport Wales National Centre and Cardiff Squash Club.

No less than 140 players from nine countries took part in the competition, with Welsh Squash and Racketball Director of Coaching, Mike Workman saying: “There were many solid performances in all age categories in Cardiff as the Welsh Junior Open proved to be an excellent platform for the Welsh emerging junior elite to compete in their own backyard against European competition.”

It was a truly international competition in the Welsh capital with five separate

age categories for both boys and girls. Also 1,700 unique viewers streamed the event from the WSRB website and had plenty of outstanding youth squash to choose from over the three days, with a strong Welsh playing presence throughout.

In the boys’ competitions, the Under-11s was won by Rhys Evans of Wales who beat Ireland’s Dylan Moran in the final 12-10, 11-3, 1412.

The Under-13s was claimed by Jack Bloomfield of England who defeated countryman and fifth seed Adam Goad in a great fivegame final 10-12, 11-7, 3-11, 11-8, 11-4. Bloomfield excelled himself over the weekend, overcoming first seed and home favourite Owen Hayes on his way to the title.

It was first versus second in the Under-15s as Eng-

land’s Jared Carter took the crown with an impressive victory over Conor Moran of Ireland 11-4, 11-5, 11-5.

But there was an upset in the Under-17s as Wales’ first seed Elliot Morris-Devred lost out to Scot Stuart MacGregor, seeded fifth, 12-10, 11-7, 11-6.

There was further Welsh final disappointment in the Under-19s competition as Emyr Evans came up just short against first seed Michael Craig of Ireland, who claimed the trophy 11-9, 116, 11-4.

Meanwhile, the girls competition began with a threeway round robin tournament in the Under-11s which was won by England’s Jasmine Tranter, who comfortably beat Emma Dineen of Ireland and Chloe Marshman of Wales.

The Under-13s tournament was taken by Margot Prow of England, overcom-

ing Wales’ first seed Layna Beattie in an epic five-game final, having been 2-1 down at one stage. Prow won 9-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-9, 11-9.

There was some home comfort in the Under-15s as Ciara Richards claimed a title for Wales, topping a five-girl pool by impressively winning all four of her matches.

Amber Peacey and Stephanie Ryan maintained English dominance over proceedings as both competed in the Under-17s final, with Peacey prevailing 11-6, 117, 8-11, 11-5.

The home nations’ monopoly in Cardiff was finally broken in the Under-19s as France’s Lea van der Zwalmen performed remarkably to topple England’s Jessica Davis 11-5, 11-8, 11-9. Van der Zwalmen had wowed many by disposing of first seed Elin Harlow on her way to victory.

Some winners from the 2014 Junior Welsh Open Squash Championships

WEIGHTLIFTING

Power to glory NORTH Walian Gareth Evans (pictured right) will hope to make up for the disappointment of failure in the Commonwealth Games with a big personal performance at the World Weightlifting Championships in Kazakhstan next month.

But just weeks after those Commonwealths in Glasgow, the Holyhead lifter is targeting a place in his second Olympic Games, initially, after competing in London 2012, but an even bigger aim is to lift for Wales at the next Commonwealths on the Gold Coast, Australia.

The World Championships is an important stepping stone for lifters aiming to qualify for the Rio Olympics. They take place in Almety, Kazakhstan between November 4 and 16.

Evans, who competes in the under-69 kilo class, was 17th in the London Olympics, having snatched 130 kilos and then clean and jerked 158 for a total of 288kgs.

He is shaking off a slight wrist injury before flying to Eastern Europe and said: “That could put me out for a week but then I will crack on.

“Kazakhstan is not the best place to go but I’m not there for the scenery. I will be doing as much as I can for Rio.” That is providing Team GB sends a full squad of

lifters to Brazil. Evans added: “You cannot, obviously, look into the future and see whether we are going to get a men’s squad so my big focus is three-and-a-half years away which is the Gold Coast.”

It will be a busy November not just for Evans, who is also a big Wrexham FC fanatic, but for the rest of the Welsh lifters.

The Celtic Nations Championships takes place in November just after the end of the worlds. They are an important competition in many ways for Wales, not least because they are the current champions, having won the medal against their Celtic cousins from Scotla-

Rising star: Christie Williams

nd and Ireland in Cardiff last year.

It will also be a chance for some of the new young lifters who could be competing on the Gold Coast to get a piece of the action on the senior international stage and for Wales to compete

as a team once more.

Evans said: “Weightlifting is an individual sport but the Celtic Nations is a team event scored not in the normal way but on something called Sinclair Points. This is where every lifter gets a total and then all those scores are calculated under the Sinclair Points and the biggest total wins.

“Wales will be defending the title this year in Scotland. We will have Michaela (Breeze) in the squad and we will hopefully have everyone else from Glasgow there.”

And there will be the new breed including a youngster that Evans knows well.

“Sam Henderson is about 16 or 17 and he lifts in the 56kg class which is the category below me. Sam has fantastic potential to be a lifter for Great Britain when he is older.

“Catrin Haf Jones is another great talent. She lifts in the 48kgs class and has come from gymnastics so

we hope both of these will do well in the Celtic Nations.”

Buckley’s Steph Owens and Christie Williams, from Aberaman, who were both in the Commonwealths, will compete at the Celtic Nations as they prepare for

Legend: Michaela Breeze

the Welsh Closed Championships in the early part of 2015. For Evans, the World Championships are first and that is about climbing the rankings and making enough inroads for Olympic qualification, if it happens.

An exciting 2015 awaits!

BRING ON THE STARS OF FUTURE ALL things have to change once in a while across sport and Badminton Wales are looking to build towards the future after this year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

A couple of big names have stepped down and now it is a case of the next generation of players that can lead the nation not just at the 2018 Gold Coast Games in Australia but the next Games after that stepping forward and mounting their claims.

Joe Morgan, one of the stalwarts of the sport in Wales for years, retired after the Commonwealths last summer, while Sarah Thomas, another senior star, is studying for an accountancy qualification and has put playing on the backburner for a while.

So the opportunities have presented themselves for the doubles combinations and the singles players to give it a go.

Badminton Wales national coach Matthew Hughes said: “It’s a little bit of a re-building process for us at the moment.

Carissa Turner is looking to go more in the singles and Nic Strange was without a partner. Oli Gwilt was also without a partner so the two of them have joined forces.

“The squad has become a bit smaller and now it is a case of looking for the juniors coming up. In seven-and-a-half years time, we would have built for those Commonwealths again.”

Badminton Wales are constantly looking at the future and have just held their first Talent Day at Deganwy, North Wales, where 21 children enjoyed playing and were assessed by three coaches. Development Officer Stephanie Marti-Jones said: “The children enjoyed the talent identification day. Now the coaches are choosing those for the Talent Hub.”

Changing times for Badminton Wales National Coach Mattthew Hughes

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SAILORS BREAK WORLD RECORD AROUND 2,000 sailors from around Wales have gone into the Guinness Book of World Records after taking part in the biggest ever race.

At least 25 people per club at venues throughout Wales joined fellow watersport enthusiasts around the world in Bart’s Bash, to raise money for the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation in memory of the Olympic medallist who died while preparing for the America’s Cup last year.

There were around 750 boats in Wales taking part.

British Marine Federation figures show that participation in boating in Wales has doubled over the last five years.

The numbers taking part in this Guinness World Record attempt shows the growth of the sport in Wales.

Clubs including Cardiff Bay, Saundersfoot, Port Dinorwic, Royal Anglesey and Clywedog, joined 15,000 sailors at 750 clubs from 65 countries across the world in taking part in the one kilometre race last month – the largest sailing event in history.

“This was a fantastic example of the sailing community of all ages and abilities coming together to support a wonderful cause,” said Welsh Yachting Association chief executive Steven Morgan.

“It is another example of how sailing is growing in Wales.

“The clean, unpolluted open waters that Wales has shows why there is significant growth.”

SECOND TIME LUCKY FOR IEUAN

TENBY powerboater Ieuan James

(pictured right receiving his prize) took the motto ‘if at first you

don’t succeed’ seriously as he tried again in the Honda RYA Youth RIB Challenge and improved on last year’s second place to clinch the Welsh title.

The 15-year old from Greenhill School came out on top in the 1316 age category in the event held at Pembrokeshire Adventure Centre.

The Tenby sailing club member trailed Saundersfoot’s Rhys Jackson after the first run in the Honda RIB powerboat over a tricky River Cleddan course, but was able to improve by ten seconds on the second run to pip his local rival by just two seconds and qualify for the national finals in Southampton. Dovey Yacht Club’s Lewis Morgan, aged 14 from Tywyn, was third.

James has been a member of Tenby Sailing Club for more than six years after getting into the sport to have a bit of fun.

He had only competed in the Honda RIB Youth Challenge once before which was last year’s second place,

but was nominated by his club to take part in recognition of his commitment to club activities, the amount of times he volunteers and because he was their strongest contender.

Hester Walker, Welsh Yachting Association West Wales Development Officer, said: “This was a really exciting competition in a great venue for such racing.

“It went down to the wire before Ieuan just pipped Rhys on the second run.

“The course was set in a section of the River Cleddau known as Ferny Pitts, a sheltered stretch of water which is very popular for local watercraft.”

Ieuan’s success is just one of the outstanding performances that are helping to drive the standard of RIB powerboating in the UK at the moment.

Andrew Norton, RYA Powerboat Project Manager and Event Director, said: “With so many talented young RIB drivers across the country the 2014 titles and the Champion of Clubs trophy could belong to anyone.

“Qualifying for the national final of the Honda RYA Youth RIB Championship is a huge achievement as it not only means that these youngsters can drive the RIBs at speed but they can handle them safely under pressure.

It’s also been fantastic to see more girls taking part and qualifying for the national final this year.”

Honda RYA Youth RIB Event Manager Tom Busfield added: “The expert level of RIB driving we have seen across the UK means things are really hotting up for this year’s final. Youngsters are training hard in the hope that they will be crowned 2014 champions.

Good luck to everyone taking part”.

SILVER STAR THOMAS

Graeme Thomas (far left) and his Great Britain quad crew race to a World Championships silver medal in Amsterdam on August 30

PICTURES: Peter Spurrier/Intersport Images www.intersport-images.com WELSHMAN Graeme Thomas won a silver medal at the 2014 Rowing World Championships at the Bosbaan Rowing Lake in Amsterdam.

Thomas was involved in a thrilling final of the men’s quadruple scull on Saturday August 30 alongside his teammates Charles Cousins, Sam Townsend and Pete Lambert. The quad has been unchanged since their bronze medal at the World Championships last year - Britain’s first in this event at the worlds - and have been outstanding throughout the 2014 season, with gold medals at both World Cup regattas and silver at the Europeans.

In the final, they wanted to upgrade their last World Championship medal to gold. They knew that the Ukraine, the European champions, would be the main opposition to that dream with the crew from Germany also capable of upsetting the 2014 established order.

In the early part of the race, the Ukrainians got ahead by a canvas from the British quartet and then took almost a half-length lead, with these two crews creating a sizeable gap over the remainder of the field.

At the halfway point, the British were only a canvas behind, with China emerging into third. Stroke by powerful stroke, the British quad sought to pull back the inches on Ukraine.

At the 1500m mark, the GB crew were still behind as the Ukraine pulled out to a two-thirds lead and, behind them, the German crew pushed ahead of the Chinese and into third.

In a roaring sprint to the line, the GB crew flew back into contention. Nothing seemed to separate the crews as they crossed the line, but the clock said differently. Ukraine took gold by a mere 0.09 of a second.

Following the race, Thomas said: “I can’t fault the guys on a scull like that. It is the best race I have ever delivered.”

Wrexham’s Vicky Thornley also raced in Amsterdam having been selected in the open women’s single scull for Great Britain after her double sculls partner Frances

Houghton was ruled out of the World Championships when failing to recover from a virus condition in the build-up.

In a competitive field, Thornley was unable to qualify for the final of the single scull, along with the current Olympic Games champion Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic.

In the ‘B’ final, Knapkova sculled into a big first-half lead as Thornley was well-positioned in second before being caught briefly by the Dane Fle Udsby Erichsen.

Thornley countered the Dane’s surge across the water as well as holding off Genevra Stone of the United States, and was closing in on Knapkova as the line approached and so she had to settle for second place.

Cardiff’s lightweight single sculler Zak Lee-Green (pictured left) was included in the squad as a racing spare after Adam Freeman-Pask was ruled out of the Championships due to injury.

Lee-Green finished fifth in his semi-final and went on to race in the ‘B’ final of the event where he finished in a very respectable fourth place, and thus placed himself in the top ten in the world.

The 23-year old later said: “It has been a fantastic experience to come here and experience a top event and to have the opportunity to race means you learn so much. It’s been unbelievable. In that semi, I gave it absolutely everything.

There was nothing left.”

Graeme Thomas (far left) displays his silver medal with his quad crew colleagues at the World Championships in Amsterdam

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