Mick Hucknall performed at the Opening Ceremony.

Athletes from Great Britain Special Olympics team won 88 medals at the Special Olympics European Summer Games in Warsaw.

The 46 competitors took part in athletics, tennis, badminton, power lifting, table tennis and 10-pin bowling.

They were among a total number of 1500 athletes from 56 countries who competed in the week-long event in Poland.

One of the highlights was the success of the tennis squad with seven medals.

Zara Jurenko from Leicester was undefeated in her first two Group 1 women's singles round-robin matches against Kazakhstan and Poland and then reinforced her position as the most successful female tennis player in Special Olympics Great Britain history by beating an opponent from Germany.

The Special Olympics tennis team won seven medals

Coach Lesley Whitehead said: "I was impressed by how the tennis team held up under the pressure of international competition.

"Every one of them won at least one Gold or Silver medal."

In her first international athletics competition, Scotland's Benie Kiesa was stunned to find that she had lost her spikes the night before her first race.

The threat of missing out on the 200m did not deter her from her training and it was with a sigh of relief that 20 minutes before her race the spikes were found.

"The remarkable thing," said her coach Terri Hardcastle, "was that she not only competed and stayed focused, but was so far out in front they couldn't touch her."

Paul Booth' s sister is professional golfer Carly Booth

The 16-year-old finished 0.8 seconds ahead of the field to take the Gold.

Power-lifter Paul Booth from Comrie in Scotland came to Warsaw to win medals.

The 20-year-old won four gold medals in his division for Dead Lift, Combination All Lifts, Squat Lift and Bench Press.

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version