Deaflympics - Pipped at the Post!
Posted by on Tuesday, September 24, 2013 Under: International
Deaf Tennis Australia sent a team of four males to the 22nd Deaflympics held in Sofia, Bulgaria from 26th July to 4th August 2013. Glen Flindell, John Lui, Jamie Zafir and Stephen Swann met up with team manager David Brady in Sofia for their two week campaign. Having arrived on a Tuesday that gave the team a couple of days to get over the jet lag and acclimatize to Bulgarian time and the warmer weather conditions before competition commenced on the Friday.
Stephen Swann commenced proceedings for the team with a first round clash against Russia's top player and despite putting up a good fight his opponent was too classy in the end. The rest of the team received a first round bye and got their singles campaigns underway a day later. Glen and John had comfortable wins first up against China and Russia respectively while Jamie had a big fight on his hands against India and eventually prevailed after two tie breakers. The next round saw Glen take on the French and win in straight sets while John took on a German and was unable to make inroads into his opponent's steady game and Jamie lost to his highly fancied Austrian opponent. It was now left to Glen to fly the Australian flag in the singles with a quarter final clash against Germany which went right down to the wire and concluded with a tight three set match going in Glen's favour. A semi final against the world number one from France awaited Glen and despite putting up a good fight he was beaten in straight sets. The play off for bronze against Austria was another tight affair with Glen unfortunately going down 6-4 in the third set and finishing fourth.
The doubles draw saw John and Jamie team up against the Russians first up and win comfortably while Glen and Stephen took on the Americans winning in straight sets. Next up was a difficult clash for John and Jamie against Austria which they lost in straight sets while Glen and Stephen were able to outsmart their Indian opponents. A semi final clash with the Germans awaited Glen and Stephen and after a good start they went down in three sets to the eventual Gold medallists. The playoff for bronze saw Glen and Stephen get tamed by the Austrians in straight sets to finish fourth.
The team would like to thank David Brady for his wonderful support and guidance as team manager and Tennis Australia who organised some training camps led by Dan Norris in the lead up to the Deaflympics.
Upcoming events on the international deaf tennis calendar are 2015: Dresse & Maere Cup in the USA; 2016: World Deaf Tennis Championships in the UK and the Asia-Pacific Deaf Games in Taiwan.
Stephen Swann commenced proceedings for the team with a first round clash against Russia's top player and despite putting up a good fight his opponent was too classy in the end. The rest of the team received a first round bye and got their singles campaigns underway a day later. Glen and John had comfortable wins first up against China and Russia respectively while Jamie had a big fight on his hands against India and eventually prevailed after two tie breakers. The next round saw Glen take on the French and win in straight sets while John took on a German and was unable to make inroads into his opponent's steady game and Jamie lost to his highly fancied Austrian opponent. It was now left to Glen to fly the Australian flag in the singles with a quarter final clash against Germany which went right down to the wire and concluded with a tight three set match going in Glen's favour. A semi final against the world number one from France awaited Glen and despite putting up a good fight he was beaten in straight sets. The play off for bronze against Austria was another tight affair with Glen unfortunately going down 6-4 in the third set and finishing fourth.
The doubles draw saw John and Jamie team up against the Russians first up and win comfortably while Glen and Stephen took on the Americans winning in straight sets. Next up was a difficult clash for John and Jamie against Austria which they lost in straight sets while Glen and Stephen were able to outsmart their Indian opponents. A semi final clash with the Germans awaited Glen and Stephen and after a good start they went down in three sets to the eventual Gold medallists. The playoff for bronze saw Glen and Stephen get tamed by the Austrians in straight sets to finish fourth.
The team would like to thank David Brady for his wonderful support and guidance as team manager and Tennis Australia who organised some training camps led by Dan Norris in the lead up to the Deaflympics.
Upcoming events on the international deaf tennis calendar are 2015: Dresse & Maere Cup in the USA; 2016: World Deaf Tennis Championships in the UK and the Asia-Pacific Deaf Games in Taiwan.
In : International
