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UKSA announce GB team for Inas World Table Tennis Championships

The UK Sports Association (UKSA) has today (Wednesday 2nd October) announced the team that will represent Great Britain at the 2013 Inas World Table Tennis Championships in Hong Kong this December.

 Patrick Cox, aged 19 from Leicester and Adam Thompson, aged 25 from Cheshire, are both set to compete in the class 11 singles category and will take on athletes from across the globe in the hope of reaching the podium.
 
Adam, who is currently top British male in his class, said:

“I’m really delighted to be part of the team, it’s such a great opportunity to compete outside of Europe. Inas events like this are really important, without them there wouldn’t be any international class 11 competition - I just can’t wait to get out there now.”

Completing the team is English Table Tennis Association (ETTA) coaches Chris Turner and Shaun Newcomb. Mr Newcomb, himself a former international player, has also been invited to take up the position as Team Manager.
 
Tracey McCillen, Chief Executive at UKSA, said:

“UKSA has worked in close partnership with Mencap Sport and ETTA in a unique collaboration to enable these talented athletes to participate in the World Championships. Attendance was, however, only made possible by the generous support of Cathay Pacific Airways, who will act as travel partners by supplying flights for the team. Support like this is hugely important and we would like to extend our most sincere thanks to them. These Championships represent a critical step for the athletes as they set their sights on selection for the 2015 Inas Global Games in Ecuador and 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio.”

 

Carmen Tse, Marketing and Communications Manager for Cathay Pacific, said:

“It truly is a great honour to be able to support these talented athletes in their quest to achieve the very highest levels of sporting excellence and we wish them the best of luck for the championships.”


 
The Inas World Table Tennis Championships will be held on 11-19 December 2013 and will be the first ever to take place in Hong Kong. Both Patrick and Adam will compete in the class 11 category for athletes with learning disability.
 
UKSA manages the eligibility and classification process for UK athletes with learning disability. The Great Britain Team is managed by UKSA in collaboration with its four Home Country members, Scottish Disability Sport, Disability Sports Northern Ireland, Welsh Sports Association for People with Learning Disability and Mencap Sport in England.
 
UKSA promotes, facilitates and supports talented sports people with learning disability in the UK to train, compete and excel in national and international competitive sport.

More information: 

  1. The UK Sports Association for People with Learning Disability (UKSA) is the national disability sports organisation and umbrella body in the UK for sport and people with learning disability. UKSA promotes, supports and facilitates talented sports people with learning disability in the UK to train, compete and excel in national and international sport and is the body responsible for eligibility and classification of athletes from the UK.  UKSA is recognised by UK Sport, is a member of the British Paralympic Association and is the official Great Britain member of INAS. Visit www.uksportsassociation.org
  2. Inas, For Para-Athletes with Intellectual Disability (formerly INAS-FID), founded in 1986, is a member of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and is the body responsible for the international competition for athletes with intellectual disability. See  www.inas.org
  3. Learning Disability is a term used in the UK, with intellectual disability being used internationally. Both refer to the same group of athletes. Learning disability is a “hidden disability”. It inhibits how a person learns and performs every day functions that others take for granted. It also reduces communication, understanding, social, and living skills. In elite performance sport learning disability is defined as an IQ of 75 or less; significant limitations in adaptive behaviour (day to day functioning) and age of onset of the learning disability being in the development years (0 -18 years). This definition adopted by INAS is from the World Health Organisation (WHO) definition of learning disability (mental handicap) and is in line with other internationally recognised definitions.
  4. UKSA and INAS are different to Special Olympics. UKSA promotes performance led elite competitive sport, has just one classification group in events and is focussed on the performance and winning gold. UKSA and INAS are part of the pathway to Global Games and Paralympic Games. Special Olympics are a year-round sports training and competition programme for adults and children with learning disability. Special Olympics competitions are divisioned so that athletes compete with other athletes of similar ability in each sport. Special Olympics competitions are non-elite catering to all-ability levels. Special Olympics focus is on participation and improving an athlete’s quality of life. High sports ability athletes may progress to the Paralympic level through UKSA and INAS.

 

Photograph: Patrick Cox at the 2013 Sainsbury's School Games where he won the gold medal in his class.

For further information, photos and interviews contact Susan Anderson on 0207 490 3057 or Tracey McCillen on 07710 455 067 (out of hours). Email UKSA

For more information on UKSA, visit their website