We are delighted to announce the Irish team for the Blind/VI tennis world championships. The World Games will take place from 18-27 August 2023 at the University of Birmingham. This year the tennis world championships are taking place as part of the International Blind Sports Association World Games which will include ten sports with 1250 athletes from over 70 countries. This will be the first time that tennis will be included in these Games which take place every four years.
The team is :
Lisa McLaughlin B1 Windsor TC
Stuart Haxell B1 Sligo TC
Babs Weiborg B2 Shankill TC
Vinny Keane B2 Rosslare/Naas/ Tramore TC
Marguerite Quinn B3 Ballina Killaloe TC
Ariadna Flociuc B4 Shankill TC
Doris Finley B4 Windsor TC
Rya Devereux B4 Shankill TC
Team Manager: Wesley O’Brien, Ballina Killaloe TC
Coaching team: Simon McFarland and Ann-Marie Breen from Tennis Ireland
Tennis Ireland would like to congratulate the players on their selection and wishes the team and coaches the very best of luck in the Games in August.
The team are aiming to bring home at least three medals from the Games and achieve at least five players in the top ten worldwide rankings.
We’d like to acknowledge Sport Ireland for their support for the team and Vision Sports Ireland for their continued work in growing blind/vi tennis with us across the country where we now have twelve clubs with both senior and junior players.
The photo shows Rya Devereux and Ariadna Flociuc with squad member Sophie Sutton Gough at the team’s first training session (photo credit: Tony McNamara). Future sessions will be in Belfast and Dublin – all welcome and we will advertise the dates as they arise.
