GB tennis players net five gold medals at Special Olympics World Summer Games

Great Britain’s tennis players are returning from the 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games with an impressive tally of five gold and one bronze medal following a highly successful week in Los Angeles.

Aiden Leighton, Oliver Beadle and Laura Campbell competed at world’s leading multi-sport participation event for athletes with a learning disability, Special Olympics World Summer Games. Taking part in the tennis competition, they won both singles and mixed doubles gold medals, while Lucy Porteous added a women’s singles bronze medal to the mixed doubles gold medal she won partnering Leighton.

After divisioning matches to ensure players competed against others of similar tennis ability. Great Britain's medal success began with Beadle and Campbell winning the Level 5 mixed doubles gold medal after dropping just three games across two matches. They faced partnerships from Australia and Israel, winning the first gold medal with a comprehensive 4-0, 4-0 win over Nadav Sarfati and Ofir Avishay of Israel.

Leighton and Porteous added another gold medal in the Level 4 mixed doubles with straight sets wins against pairings from Germany and Japan. While Leighton beat players from Pakistan and Egypt in straight sets to win the Level 4 men’s singles gold medal.

Campbell earned the last tennis gold medal of the Games for Great Britain, when she followed up a comfortable first round win with a 4-0, 4-0 win against Kelly Toex of Luxembourg to top the podium in the Level 5 women’s singles event.

The only singles match involving a British player to go to three sets ended with Porteous recovering from 5-0 down in a match tie-break to beat Patricia Romo of Mexico 4-1, 2-4, (13-11), Earning her the Level 4 women’s singles bronze medal. She added two more medals to her singles silver medal and doubles gold medal from the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens.

Leighton, Campbell and Porteous’s singles events were all played to a short sets format. Beadle men’s singles Level 5+ gold medal came after 6-0, 6-0  and 6-2, 6-4 wins over American and Belgian opponents.

Lesley Whitehead, Special Olympics Great Britain tennis Head Coach, who works closely with the Tennis Foundation's disability tennis team said:

"Over the last 18 months, all the players have been working hard on specific areas of their game together with a comprehensive fitness programme. The improvement and performance of each of them has shown that hard work has its rewards.

"Every player has improved so much and they are now playing with more confidence and belief in their abilities. We are very proud of the achievements of all of the tennis team. A big thank you, too, to all the families, friends and the Tennis Foundation, who came out to support us, as well as staff, coaches and the other athletes."

Joanna Farquharson, Deputy Executive Director of the Tennis Foundation said:

"It has been a real joy to witness the success of our tennis players in Los Angeles and to share great memories with such a great group of athletes and our superb coaches Lesley and Mel.

"At the Tennis Foundation we are passionate about increasing the opportunities available for players with a learning disability and I hope the success of our Special Olympics World Summer Games athletes will inspire more people to explore the range of opportunities available, whether it be at one of our learning disability tennis camps, one of our tournaments around the country or at a venue we are supporting in their locality."

All four players complemented their preparations for Los Angeles at their home training venues by enjoying success in the Tennis Foundation’s structure of regional and national learning disability tennis tournaments across the country, the next of which takes place this weekend in Wrexham.

The 2015 World Summer Games was the largest gathering of athletes in Los Angeles since the 1984 Summer Olympic Games - 7,000 athletes from 177 countries competing in 25 sporting events from 25 July to 2 August.  For a full round up of all the action from the GB team at the 2015 World Summer Games, visit Special Olympics GB website.

Special Olympics GB works in partnership with Mencap Sport to form the English Learning Disability Sport Alliance (ELDSA). The two National Disability Sport Organisations work together to promote sport and physical activity opportunities for people with a learning disability.

For more information about the Tennis Foundation and learning disability tennis visit www.ldtennis.org.uk.