Seven Aussies go for gold at IBTA Tennis World Championships | 9 October, 2024 | All Information | Information and Options | Information and Occasions

Australia has gained 14 medals, together with seven gold, on the IBTA Blind and Low Imaginative and prescient Tennis World Championships in Italy in a event that attracted athletes from 25 international locations.

Melbourne, 9 October 2024 | Sarah Dyce

Australia carried out exceptionally effectively on the 2024 IBTA Blind and Low Imaginative and prescient World Championships in Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy, profitable seven gold, six silver and one bronze medal.

The 2024 IBTA World Championships have been held in two venues in Italy, drawing athletes from all over the world to compete.

A flagship occasion within the blind tennis calendar, it has continued to advertise inclusiveness within the sport, offering alternatives for athletes with various levels of visible impairment to compete on the highest degree.

The week-long occasion, held from 23-29 September, introduced collectively greater than 150 athletes from 25 international locations, with the Australian crew displaying their energy and depth in numerous disciplines.

Among the many excellent singers is Grace Hobbs, who took residence the gold within the B4 ladies’s tune. Representing New South Wales, Hobbs teamed up with New South Wales teammate Courtney Webeck for one more gold medal within the ladies’s open doubles. Webeck, competing within the B2 ladies’s singles, added to her tally with a silver medal.

Australian ladies competing on court docket on the 2024 IBTA Blind and Low Imaginative and prescient Tennis World Championships in Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy.

Within the males’s occasions, Ross Patterson (VIC) and Michael Leigh (SA) proved to be two rivals, competing for the open doubles gold medal. Each athletes additionally did effectively within the singles, with Patterson profitable the B4 males’s singles and Leigh taking gold within the B3 males’s singles.

South Australia’s Ethan Prepare dinner continued his robust run on the worldwide championships, profitable gold within the B2 males’s singles. Prepare dinner additionally teamed up with Oliver Fanshawe (QLD) for silver within the males’s doubles, capping off a powerful event for the pair.

Victoria’s Caroline Lane added to the medal tally with silver within the B3 ladies’s singles, whereas additionally partnering Germany’s Charlotte Schwagmeier to take silver within the open ladies’s doubles.

The format of visually impaired tennis varies relying on the visible classes during which the gamers compete. Relying on the participant’s class they might have as much as three bounces of the ball earlier than returning it to the opponent.

Within the B1 class, for these with a really excessive diploma of imaginative and prescient loss or blindness, three bounces of the ball are allowed, and gamers often put on eye masks. The B2, B3, B4 and B5 divisions compete in opposition to gamers with completely different ranges of visible acuity, B2 gamers are allowed three bounces, B3 gamers are allowed two bounces and B4 and B5 gamers are allowed one bounce of the ball.

Australian Medal Tally

• Grace Hobbs (NSW) – Gold, B4 ladies’s singles
• Ross Patterson (VIC) – Gold, B4 male singles
• Michael Leigh (SA) – Gold, B3 male singles
• Courtney Webeck (NSW) – Silver, B2 ladies’s singles
• Ethan Prepare dinner (SA) – Gold, B2 males’s singles
• Oliver Fanshawe (QLD) – Silver, B2 males’s singles
• Ross Patterson and Michael Leigh – Gold, males’s open doubles
• Ethan Prepare dinner and Oliver Fanshawe – Silver, open males’s double
• Grace Hobbs and Courtney Webeck – Gold, ladies’s doubles
• Caroline Lane and Charlotte Schwagmeier (GER) – Silver, ladies’s doubles

Australia’s success on the 2024 World Championships displays the nation’s development in blind and partially sighted tennis, with athletes reaching podium finishes in lots of classes.

This efficiency not solely highlights the ability and willpower of the gamers but additionally marks a milestone within the improvement of sports activities in Australia.

For extra data on blind and partially sighted tennis in Australia, go to play.tennis.com.au.

Group Australia earlier than the opening ceremony of the 2024 IBTA World Blind and Low Imaginative and prescient Tennis Championships in Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy.