 Skelhon and Brown were two of Team GB's brightest stars in Beijing |
Paralympic gold medallists Matt Skelhon and Danielle Brown capped a stunning year by picking up gongs at the British Wheelchair Sports Awards. The pair were honoured with outstanding individual achievement awards at the ceremony in Essex. Brown, 20, won archery gold in Beijing while Skelhon, 23, equalled the world record on his way to shooting glory. "I was pleased to be nominated in a strong category but to win is unbelievable," Skelhon told BBC Sport. "This year has been very special. In January I could never have imagined I would come away with a Paralympic gold medal." Skelhon recorded a perfect score of 600 in his first six series in the mixed R3 10 metres air rifle prone final. He has used a wheelchair for only three years after a car accident and took up competitive shooting one and a half years ago. Brown added the Olympic title to her world crown with a victory by 14 points in the final. "This has been my best ever year and I'm still improving all the time," Brown told BBC Sport. "Next year I have the World Championships in the Czech Republic and hopefully the World University Games in China against able-bodied archers so it will be a busy year for me." Shooter Di Coates was given the lifetime achievement award at Saturday's ceremony. Coates, 54, was Paralympic champion at every Games from 1988 and 2000 and narrowly missed out on a place in the 2008 final in Beijing. The men's basketball team collected the team award after winning bronze in China.
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