Eleanor Simmonds selected in Great Britain’s squad to compete at the Paralympic World Cup
Two-time Paralympic champion, Eleanor Simmonds, is one of the tremendous Britain swimmers authorised today to represent Great Britain at the British Telecommunications (BT) Paralympic World Cup in Manchester this May.
Simmonds’ selection has enabled her to defend her titles of the 200m Individual Medley at the World Cup. Moreover, Simmonds has entered the squad of fellow Paralympics gold medallist including Sascha Kindred, Liz Johnson, Matthew Walker and David Roberts
to compete with swimmers from Europe, America and other countries at the BT World Championships, on May 28, 2011.
The Paralympics Championship will predict the performance of Britain’s swimmers at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) European Championships in Berlin, this August.
The 16-year-old Simmonds considers the upcoming championship as a key component to defend her titles at the 2012 London Olympics. She said, “I always enjoy the competition in Manchester, I like the pool and the fans always cheer us on. It’s also an opportunity
to compete against the best swimmers in the world which will really help me ahead of the European Championships later this year.”
On the other hand, six-time Paralympic gold medallist, Sascha Kindred, broke the European record for the S56 50m butterfly event and qualified easily for the BT World Cup. He was very happy after improving the European Record and said, “It’s a great opportunity
to race a high quality international field and it will be good to get a feel of the home crowd only a year before London 2012.”
The championship will be broadcasted live globally and the swimmers will participate in six different categories on the basis of their disability.
National performance director of British Swimming, John Atkinson, was pleased to host the BT World Cup and added that the event magnetises the world’s best swimmers in one place to battle for the gold medal.
Some of the other swimmers which will represent Britain at the BT Championship include Matthew Whorwood, David Roberts, Matthew Walker, Jonathan Fox, Sam Hynd, Sean Fraser, Thomas Young, Daniel Pepper, Ben Procter, Natalie Jones and Heather Frederiksen.
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