Nineteen Athletes Join NI Commonwealth Games Team
A further 19 athletes have been named by the Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games Council for the Commonwealth Games which kicks of from 3-14th October in Delhi . At Delhi, 71 teams will compete over 17 sports and 4 Para Sports. Already announced on the team are prolific stars such as Wendy Houvenhagel and Madeline Perry. Support is received from Sport NI.We will soon approach the noteworthy '100 days to go' mark next Friday 25th June.
Zoe Barr, from Bangor, has been selected in squash and will compete as doubles partner with Madeline Perry. Zoe has had a successful season, winning the Ulster and Leinster titles and representing Ireland in the recent European Championships.
Athletics has named their first three competitors which includes Double paralympic gold medallist Jason Smyth (SINI) after smashing the NI 100 meters record in the NI and Ulster Athletics Championships when he set new figures of 10.32 secs last weekend. He took full advantage of a drop in the wind speed to take 0.3 secs off Paul Brizzel's 2003 record. The SINI athlete has been training alongside former world 100 and 200m champion Tyson Gay for six weeks last year in America.
Jason said:
"I'm delighted to get selected for the NI Commonwealth Games Team- it is an honour to be getting the opportunity to compete for NI at such a major event and I suppose it takes a lot of the pressure off now that I have been selected this early as it was a competition I had always targeted to do. Now I can focus on running faster and being best prepared for the games!"
Joining Smyth will be Ciara Mageean (18) who achieved the 800m standard time last July when she clinched a silver medal in the World Youth Championships. She won the bronze medal in the 1500m at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune and has a string of Irish and UK titles to her name including taking Sonia O'Sullivan’s Irish junior records.
Kelly McNeice competed at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in 2002 over the 800m and 1500m. She broke club-mate Amanda Crowes NI 1500m record in Gent, Belgium last summer when achieving the standard and ran her fastest time in almost 2 years a few days ago. Kelly represented Ireland in the World Indoors in Doha earlier this year.
Seriena Johnrose, 20, who trains at Garstang School of Gymnastics, has been added to the Gymnastics squad. It is a dream come true for Johnrose, who quit gymnastics five years ago after a serious knee injury. But she returned to training 18 months ago, and her determination won her a place in the vault finals at the British Championships - before collecting a vault gold at the English Championships.
Joining Wendy Houvenhagel in the cycling team are three more athletes. Connor McConvey has secured a place on the Belgian based Sean Kelly professional team and has spent the first half of this season competing at the highest level on the UCI circuit finishing at the front in Elite individual road races. He finished 4th overall in the recent FBD Insurance Rás Tailteann and is a SINI athlete. He will be joined by Heather Wilson who previously competed in the Commonwealth Games as a triathlete. Since specialising in cycling Heather has set NI and Irish records in Individual Time Trial and is reigning Irish Road Race Champion. Heather is also a member of the Irish National track squad and has competed in a number of World Cup Events with distinction.
Philip Lavery is the youngest rider to be selected for the NI team. With wins in the four day International Tour of the North at Easter, stage wins in the Tour of Ulster and a tremendous second place finish to former World and Olympic champion Chris Newton in the Lincoln GP against a field of over 160 elite riders, Philip's tenacity and sprinting power will be used to full effect on the flat Delhi road race circuit.
In shooting, Gary Duff (50metre rifle) competed in Manchester, Atlanta Olympics and holds the Commonwealth Championship record score. He is joined by SINI athlete Matthew Hall who won a silver medal in the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune and was second in the British 50m Championship in the same year. Louise Aiken will compete in the 50m rifle for women; the Dromore woman carried the flag at the opening ceremony in Melbourne. Robert Doak will be representing GB at World Cup events later this year and has Commonwealth Games experience from Manchester in 2002- air pistol is his main event.
Badminton has named four young athletes which include Sinead Chambers, Matthew Gleave, Emma Callow and Tony Stephenson. Matthew Gleave's recent results include taking the Ulster Open Mixed Doubles title and Irish National Mixed Doubles Runner Up.
Matthew spoke of his delight at being picked for his first Games:
"To represent Northern Ireland at the Commonwealth Games will be the proudest moment of my sporting career to date. Having worked extremely hard to reach the Games I can't wait to get to India and compete against some of the best badminton players in the world from countries such as Malaysia and Singapore."
Table Tennis confirmed named three women on the squad- Na Liu (SINI), Amanda Mogey and Claire Nelson were all selected.
The Organising Committee Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi (OC CWG Delhi 2010) has formally launched its Ticketing Programme.
Mr. Suresh Kalmadi said "We are hosting an event of this magnitude for the first time in 28 years and this is vastly different in scale to the 1982 Asian Games. I believe that sports fans will be eager to witness the sporting spectacle that will unfold from 3 to 14 October," he said.
NI Commonwealth Games Council has joined Twitter- click here to follow!
Click to view Jason Smyth's 100m NI Record last weekend
