Sport-in-brief - your weekly update from the high performance sports community
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UK Sport 12 June 2014
Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games: Team Scotland, Team Wales and the England Commonwealth Games Team made squad announcements ahead of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games this week.
To keep up-to-date with the latest squad announcements, visit their respective websites:
Team Scotland
Team Wales
Team England
Team Northern Ireland
Athletics: British Athletics has named a 48-strong team to represent Great Britain & Northern Ireland at the European Team Championships in Braunschweig, Germany on 21 – 22 June.
British Athletics Performance Director Neil Black said: “We head to Germany with the aim of being competitive and to challenge for as many points as possible. In comparison to last year’s team, this is very much a developmental squad due to the confines of a crowded calendar this summer and the Sainsbury’s British Championships just a week later.
“It is also great that our senior 400m and 4x400m athletes have wholeheartedly supported the plan to give up and coming athletes the opportunity to perform on this stage.
“It will greatly benefit the teams for future major championships, and I am really looking forward to seeing how these guys perform. There may be one or two surprises.”
See the squad in full on the British Athletics website.
Boxing: Natasha Jonas and Stacey Copeland have won silver medals for England at the EUBC European Women’s Boxing Championships in Bucharest, Romania.
Liverpool’s Jonas took silver in the light-welterweight category after losing out in today’s final to Anastasia Beliakova of Russia.
Copeland secured her silver after losing out to Elena Vystropova of Azerbaijan in the welterweight final. It capped an incredible week for the 32-year-old from Bredbury Stockport Boxing Club who only took up the sport four years and was competing in her first major international tournament.
Canoeing: The British team made history at the ICF World Cup in Lee Valley this weekend (6-8 June) producing a clean sweep of gold medals in the team events.
At the conclusion of three days’ competition at the London Olympics venue GB finished at the top of the table with seven gold and a silver medal in total.
See the results in full in our event report.
Cycling: British Cycling has announced that a world-class field, including Sir Bradley Wiggins, Mark Cavendish, Lizzie Armitstead and Laura Trott, will compete at the British Cycling National Road Championships in Monmouthshire.
The men’s and women’s time-trials take place on Thursday 26 June, ahead of the road races on Sunday 29 June.
You can see the full rider list on the British Cycling website.
Diving: In a busy week for the British Diving team there was action domestically and around the world.
Tom Daley won silver in the men's 10m platform at the FINA/NVC Diving World Series event in Mexico while Jack Laugher continued his good form to win bronze in the 3m Springboard.
Laugher went on to win silver with Chris Mears in the 3m springboard synchronised event.
Meanwhile the British Championships took place Ponds Forge, Sheffield. For results and news on who won what, visit the British Swimming website.
Fencing: James Davis became Great Britain’s first ever European Champion, fencing his way to the title in Strasbourg, France.
Davis said: “It's amazing! Not really sunk in just yet. I have spent most of the night awake with total elation on my face and lots of cramp.
“I owe a massive thank you to everyone who has made this possible; my parents have worked so hard and supported me all the way; my coach Ziemek for his continued dedication towards me and to all the coaches that have worked with me over the years to get to this point.
“Lastly, a thank you to Middlesex University who have supported me during my time there and to my sponsors UK Sport and Beazley for their continued support.”
Alex Newton, British Fencing’s Performance Director, added: “I am absolutely thrilled for James. To become the first British European Champion is just reward for all the hard work and dedication that he puts in to his fencing. It’s great that James has made a little bit of history here in Strasbourg, which no one can ever take away. The whole performance team is look forward to supporting James on the next stage of his fencing journey.”
Hockey: England’s men have reached the semi-finals of the Hockey World Cup in the Netherlands and face the host nation on Friday (13th) for a place in the final.
Meanwhile, the women’s team defeated Belgium to finish 11th in their competition.
Keep up to date with all the latest England team news on the England Hockey website.
Judo: Royal Marine and London 2012 Olympian Chris Sherrington won silver and Ashley McKenzie secured bronze at the Havana Grand Prix last week.
Scottish-based Sherrington (+100kg) first beat Cuban Arlendy Morales and then claimed victory over Georgian Adam Okashvili to book a place in the semi-final with another Georgian in the shape of Levani Matiashvili.
McKenzie’s coach, Luke Preston, said: "Ashley looked sharp and relaxed throughout and I hope that his confidence will keep growing and that this success can keep repeated when he competes at the Hungary Grand Prix later this month.”
Modern Pentathlon: Britain’s Kate French achieved the best result of her modern pentathlon career to date by finishing fourth on her World Cup Final debut in Florida.
Jan Bartu, Pentathlon GB performance director, said: “Fourth was a fantastic result, especially as Kate is in full training at this point and there was no special preparation for this competition.
“It was another very promising performance by Kate,” he added. “She was competing against some really fierce athletes in Sarasota and was very close to breaking into the medals."
Rowing: Performance Director Sir David Tanner has announced changes to the GB Rowing Team line-ups ahead of the World Cup in Aiguebelette, France (20-22 June).
"Once again, we are fielding a strong squad but one where we test out young rowers and new combinations", said Tanner. "This is a critical year in the Olympic cycle and the Chief Coaches, Paul Thompson and Jurgen Grobler, are aiming to win medals but also to tease out our longer-term strengths".
See the squad in full on the GB Rowing Team website
Sailing: The British Sailing Team announced its selected team for the first Olympic Test Event to be held this summer on Guanabara Bay.
The event (2-9 August 2014) is the first official Test Event for any Olympic sport, and will see 30 British sailors across ten Olympic Classes joining their international rivals on the 2016 racecourses, as the preparation and focus towards the Rio Games steps up a gear.
RYA Olympic Manager Stephen Park said: “The Rio Test Event for a lot of sailors and a lot of the teams, is really the first big marker in the journey to the Games. It’s the first real competition on those Olympic race areas that the sailors have to really get their teeth into the Olympic venue and start to feel what it’s going to be like in 2016.
“In terms of outcomes for us the most important thing for us is just about trying to learn from that experience, both in terms of the sailors learning about Rio and about Brazil, and about living and managing to perform in a new and strange environment with a slightly different culture.”
See the squad in full on the British Sailing Team website.
Swimming: Lizzie Simmonds won two gold medals at the Monaco Mare Nostrum in Monte Carlo, dominating the 100m and 200m Backstroke.
In the men’s 200m Breaststroke, Olympic silver medallist Michael Jamieson touched in at 2:12.34 to win silver.
There were also silver medals for Jemma Lowe in the 100m Butterfly and Hannah Miley in the 400m Medley while Chris Walker-Hebborn won bronze in the 100m Backstroke.
Lowe also went on to secure a bronze in the 200m Butterfly.
Taekwondo: Jade Jones made it third time lucky against Eva Calvo-Gomez to become one of two British gold medal winners at the Swiss Open in Lausanne.
Olympic champion Jones lost to her Spanish rival in last month's European Championships final and was denied victory by Calvo-Gomez at the inaugural World Grand Prix in Manchester last December.
Mahama Cho also bounced back from his own European disappointment to clinch gold in the heavyweight division. Londoner Cho didn't medal in Azerbaijan after arriving as one of the favourites.
Bianca Walkden added a silver medal to her European gold after losing 9-4 in the final to Gwladys Epangue, one of the most decorated female taekwondo stars.
Wheelchair Tennis: Britain’s Jordanne Whiley won the second Grand Slam title of her career at Roland Garros after partnering Japan’s Yui Kamiji to win the women’s doubles wheelchair tennis title, beating Dutch top seeds Jiske Griffioen and Aniek van Koot 7-6(3), 3-6, (10-8) in a thrilling final.
It’s the second successive Grand Slam title for the Whiley and Kamiji, who won the women’s doubles at the Australian Open in January after ending 2013 by winning the Doubles Masters in California, USA.
Whiley is among three Brits on the Tennis Foundation’s Performance Programme set to contest the wheelchair tennis doubles event at The Championships, Wimbledon this year after the British No. 1 and British No.2 Lucy Shuker gained direct entry for the women’s doubles with their respective partners.
Gordon Reid will also contest the men’s doubles after he and his Dutch partner Tom Egberink were awarded a wild card.
Whiley and Japan’s Yui Kamiji were runners-up at Wimbledon in 2013 to Dutch top seeds Jiske Griffioen and Aniek van Koot, the same pairing that beat the partnership of Shuker and Whiley in the 2012 final.
Whiley said: “I’ve been in two Wimbledon finals so far and, of course, everyone dreams of a victory at their home Grand Slam, so we’ll give it our best shot and hopefully we can continue this winning partnership.”