2011 SU Update: Great Britain’s Substantial Delegation Ready for Action

Team GBR at the Village Ceremony 

SHENZHEN – British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) takeGreat Britain’s largest delegation to date to the 2011 World University Games inShenzhen,China. Team GBR consists of 220 athletes and support staff across 16 sports, many viewing the Games as incredible preparation in the run up to London 2012.

The athletes are selected from 44 world-class universities across every region of theUKand the team is arguably Great Britain’s strongest so far. Team GBR is hoping to improve on Belgrade 2009 where they finished 18th in the medal tally.

Team GBR Chef de Mission Graeme Maw is happy with preparations in the lead up and expects Shenzhen to be a friendly but also very competitive Games. “The preparation has been very good across the board. I think Shenzhen can be viewed as a transition from a Chinese Olympiad to a British Olympiad fromBeijingtoLondon,” said Maw. “This team is coming out very strong. There has been a marked step up in the management standard of sport in the country with the focus of the world class programs that represent Great Britain at Olympic level. This is reflected in the high level of management and athletes here.”

Andy Hibbert, Deputy Chef de Mission is confident in the team, but admits it is difficult to predict medals. “This is what makes these Games great in many ways because it will be very hard to predict. Some sports will be Olympic and world championship standard, when others sports will be somewhere else on that sport continuum, paired with the fact that you don’t know who is going to be here,” said Hibbert.

Great Britain has a number of Olympic hopefuls among the competitors in Shenzhen. Women’s water polo is taking full advantage of competition on the international stage, fielding their Olympic squad in China. Most of the team, which trains at a centralized base in a program supported by the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme and theUniversityofManchester, are in higher education making them eligible for the Games.

The swimmers present further medal opportunities with a solid team includingLoughboroughUniversity’s Sophie Casson who will compete in the open water swim.

Team GBR will feature on the athletics track and field in a big way with the women’s basketball team also one to watch. Taekwondo Kyorugi will see Dawud Izza (SOAS University of London), Lutalo Massop-Muhammad (Middlesex University) and Joshua Webley (Brunel University) fighting for podium places in their respective weight categories.

The fencers have medals in sight, the team including Alex O’Connell who already has experience at Olympic level competing in Beijing 2008. He is joined by strong teammates Edward Jefferies (Birkbeck, University of London), Husayn Rosowsky (Greenwich University), James Davis (Middlesex University), Marcus Mepstead (LSE, University of London) and Jenny McGeever (Royal Holloway, University of London), all of whom have proved their capability at junior level.

BUCS’Great Britainteam promises to show strength in both men and women’s football, the men preparing with a pre-Games training week at Swedish club, Östersund FK in July. Football kicks off Team GBR’s participation in the University Games, with both the men and women meetingCanadain their first matches on 11 August.

For more information about Team GBR’s involvement in the World University Games go to www.bucs.org.uk/shenzhen.

In Shenzhen, Team GBR will contend in Athletics, Badminton, Basketball (women), Diving, Fencing, Football, Golf, Gymnastics (Artistic), Judo, Shooting, Swimming, Taekwondo Kyurogi, Taekwondo Poomsae, Tennis, Water Polo (women) and Weightlifting.

(Source: BUCS Media Officer Nicola Hargreaves)