Sport-in-brief - your weekly update from the high performance sports community
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Richard Kruse
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Grace Cullen 03 May 2012
Athletics: Reigning World and European 5,000m champion, Mo Farah has confirmed that he will use the 5,000m at the Aviva London Grand Prix on 13 July, as a crucial part of his preparation for this summer’s Olympic Games.
He said: “It’s nice to race back home as I miss London and it’s not until you’re back you realise how much you miss it. At Crystal Palace we always get a great crowd and I’m really looking forward to competing on home soil before the Olympics. I think home support really gives British athletes an edge over our rivals, and that support will not only make a massive difference to us at Crystal Palace but also at the Games.”
UK Athletics
Archery: The eight archers who took part in last week's Olympic selection shoot will all be heading to Antalya, Turkey (2-6 May) to prepare for the second World Cup shoot of the year. The recurvers all missed the first shoot, in Shanghai, due to their Olympic selection commitments. But with the selection process done - the team of six will be confirmed by the British Olympic Association on May 9 - the archers can begin the next stage of their London 2012 preparations.
GB Antalya squad
Recurve: Simon Terry, Alan Wills, Larry Godfrey, Mike Peart, Alison Williamson, Naomi Folkard, Amy Oliver, Charlotte Burgess. Compound: Lucy Holderness, Andrea Gales, Daisy Clark, Chris White, Duncan Busby, Liam Grimwood.
Archery GB
Basketball: At the draw for the London Olympic Basketball Tournament, the GB men men were drawn in Group B with European champions Spain, China, Brazil, Australia and another yet to qualify team, while the women are set to face Australia, Brazil, Russia, two further teams still to qualify.
GB Basketball
Cycling: Bradley Wiggins won the 2012 Tour de Romandie with victory in the 16.5km final stage Time Trial, recording a time of 28m 56.6s. Wiggins wrested back the advantage from Luis León Sánchez, who had won the previous two stages and had edged ahead of Wiggins on time bonuses. However, Sanchez could not mount a challenge against the clock and finished 83 seconds shy of the winning time. This was Wiggins' second major stage race win of the season following his victory in Paris Nice in March.
British Cycling
Equestrian: Charlotte Dujardin set a world record of 88.022% for the Olympic dressage grand prix special discipline, smashing the previous best by 3% during an event in Hagen, Germany.
William Fox-Pitt won his 11th CCI4* at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event. Leading after the cross country and with the USA’s Allison Springer hot on his heels, Fox-Pitt ensured he kept a cool head going into the showjumping and, with just a single rail down, took the win. It was his second victory at Kentucky in three years.
The Badminton Horse Trials, due to take place 4-7 May, has been cancelled due to heavy rain and waterlogged ground.
http://www.equestrianteamgbr.co.uk/
Fencing: Richard Kruse defeated world champion Andrea Cassara on his way to the bronze medal at the Wakayama Grand Prix in Japan. Kruse beat Cassara 15-13 at the round of 16 stage before losing out to eventual champion Jianfei Ma of China in the semi-finals. This result sees Kruse rise to 13th in the world rankings.
British Fencing
Gymnastics: British Gymnastics has announced the senior and junior men’s artistic gymnasts selected to represent Great Britain at the 2012 European Championships 23-27 May in Montpellier, France.
The line-up is led by British champion Daniel Purvis and Olympic Bronze medallist Louis Smith. They are joined by experienced GB team members Kristian Thomas and Ruslan Panteyleymonov, along with Max Whitlock, who having travelled as reserve to the 2011 World Championships, now finds his place in the senior team. The seniors will compete in team and individual apparatus competitions.
The junior team is led by 2011 British ‘youth’ champion Frank Baines and 2011 European Youth Olympic Champion Courtney Tulloch along with Jay Thompson, Nile Wilson and Brinn Bevan.
British Gymnastics Olympic Performance Director Tim Jones: “We have had to make some difficult decisions when selecting both teams for this event, with the competition for places being tougher than ever.
We are convinced our senior team can maintain its strong progress towards London 2012, and look forward to our juniors continuing our strong recent tradition of producing excellent European junior results.”
British Gymnastics
Hockey: The Visa International Invitational Tournament gets underway on 2 May and will feature current men’s world champions, Australia, and current women’s world champions, Argentina, as well as both the men’s and women’s British teams, as they prepare for the London 2012 Games. The event takes place at the Riverbank Arena on the Olympic Park from 2-6 May.
Great Britain Hockey
London Prepares Series
Judo: Karina Bryant won her seventh European medal as she took bronze on the final day of the individual competition at the European Championships in Chelyabinsk, Russia.
Four-time European champion Bryant edged past France’s Ketty Mathe and reached the semi-final with a win by yuko over Carola Uilenhoed of the Netherlands. In the semi-final, Bryant was beaten by three-time European champion, Elena Ivashchenko, which saw Bryant enter the repechage to fight for bronze against Bosnia-Herzegovina’s former junior world champion Larisa Ceric.
Speaking after winning the bronze, Bryant said: “I am pleased with my performance, it gave me a great opportunity to see how my preparation has been going and where I am at this stage of my plan up to London."
British Judo
Rowing: The GB Rowing Team travels to Belgrade this week to open its racing account for the Olympic season. The 57-strong team (23 women and 34 men) will race in the opening of three 2011 World Cups from May 4-6.
Full GB Squad
Open Women
Pair: Helen Glover/Heather Stanning, Eight: Jo Cook/Olivia Carnegie Brown/ Olivia Whitlam/Vicki Meyer-Lake/Jess Eddie/Emily Taylor/Katie Greves/Lindsey Maguire/Caroline O’Connor (cox), Single scull: Rachel Gamble Flint, Double scull: Anna Watkins/Katherine Grainger, Quadruple scull: Beth Rodford/Melanie Wilson/Frances Houghton/Victoria Thornley
Open Men
Pair: George Nash/Will Satch, Nathaniel Reilly O’Donnell/Cameron Nichol, Four: Tom James/Alex Gregory/Peter Reed/Andrew Triggs Hodge, Eight: James Foad/Alex Partridge/Ric Egington/Tom Ransley/Moe Sbihi/Greg Searle/Matt Langridge/Constantine Louloudis/Phelan Hill (cox), Single scull: Alan Campbell, Tom Solesbury, Double scull: Bill Lucas/Sam Townsend, Quadruple scull: Matt Wells/Stephen Rowbotham /Charles Cousins/Marcus Bateman
Lightweight Women
Single scull: Kathryn Twyman, Double scull: Sophie Hosking/Kat Copeland, Imogen Walsh/Andrea Dennis
Lightweight Men
Pair: Paul Mattick/Adam Freeman-Pask, Four: Peter Chambers/Rob Williams/Richard Chambers/Chris Bartley, Single: Mike Mottram, Double scull: Zac Purchase/Mark Hunter
British Rowing’s Chair, Di Ellis has announced the appointment of a Chief Executive Officer, she said: “Rowing is setting out on a new and exciting phase of growth and development which will be adding value to what is already a very successful organisation. As part of that planned development I am delighted to announce the appointment of Kate Burt as British Rowing’s Chief Executive Officer.
“The business and marketing skills that Kate brings to Rowing will be invaluable as we look to build on the legacy of the Olympic and Paralympic regattas. She has a proven track record in operational and strategic planning as well as understanding the power of sport and how it can be harnessed to create opportunity for commercial revenue, participation and engagement, I believe Rowing will have a fantastic new ambassador for the sport we love.
“The Board is confident that Kate brings just the right blend of sporting background and commercial skills to ensure Rowing, from grass roots to podium, will continue to go from strength to strength.”
UK Sport CEO Liz Nicholl said: “I’d like to offer my congratulations to Kate Burt as the new CEO of British Rowing. Kate was exceptional throughout the interview process, and I have no doubt she will provide fantastic leadership at this exciting time for British sport.
“The appointment of a CEO is a clear indication of the sport’s commitment to building on British Rowing’s success to date and driving a strong legacy from London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games as we head into the RIO 2016 cycle. UK Sport has had an excellent working relationship with British Rowing and we look forward to forging a partnership with Kate as she settles into her new and important role.”
GB Rowing
Shooting: Abbey Burton has won Gold in the Trap Women in Lonato.
Great Britain's Burton, and Spain's Fatima Galvez, fought for the Gold medal from the first to the last shot, in a neck and neck race. Missing her 22nd final target, Galvez gave a chance to Burton, who took the golden opportunity, hitting the clay and tying her in the lead. But then Burton missed her 24th clay, going back in second. Galvez then missed her 25th target, so that the two shooters finished tied with a total score of 91 hits.
It was then a shoot-off – a sudden-death tie breaker – to determinate the Gold medal, which went to Abbey Burton who outscored her opponent 2 to 1 hits, securing her first ever ISSF World Cup Gold medal.
British Shooting
Taekwondo: Teenager Amin Badr gained Britain's first medal of the European Championships in Manchester. The 17-year-old Londoner won bronze in the -54kg weight division at the Regional Arena, Sportcity.
Badr defeated Serbia's Milos Gladovic 9-8, and Varag Aghajanyan of Armenia (8-5) on his way to the semi-finals, but was then defeated 15-9 by Mikayil Aliyev of Azerbaijan.
The European Taekwondo Championships, supported by UK Sport’s National Lottery funded Major Events Programme, is on-going until 6 May.
GB Taekwondo
Water Polo: The Visa Water Polo International takes place from 3–6 May in the Water Polo Arena on the Olympic Park. The tournament features two matches per day with competing women’s teams from Great Britain, Australia, USA and Hungary. This top-level line up will give water polo fans a great taste of what to expect at London 2012.
British Swimming
London Prepares Series
