SPORTS
Our first confirmed competitor for Beijing – Will Bayley
Kent Table Tennis player Will Bayley, will be part of the Team Great Britain table tennis squad at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing.
The 20-year-old from Tunbridge Wells is ranked 19th in the world for Table Tennis and currently trains at the Bristol Table Tennis Academy at Filton College. He is also a keen actor and used to attend the Brit School in Croydon.
Will says:
“It hasn’t really sunk in yet. It’s been two years of hard work and concentrating on qualification so it’s great that I have been selected. In Beijing I want to win a medal in the singles. It’s quite an open class – there are about six or seven athletes who could win.”
For information about Kent athletes tipped for 2012 as Risng Stars please follow this link
Fancy a second hand Olympic sized pool?
'The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will deliver a sustainable legacy for London and the UK'. To help deliver on this promise, a number of sporting facilities will be developed and used in the Olympic Park but will be designed and constructed with a view to them being ‘reusable venues’ to be relocated elsewhere following the Games. This is a key part of the commitment to make the Games truly sustainable, with genuine legacy.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Olympic Delivery Authority asked Sport England to coordinate the assessment of potential market interest and ultimately identify potential locations for reusable venues, which could be anywhere across the UK. The initial closing date for applications passed a few months ago. However, if you did not submit an expression of interest but would like to, then please still do so as the first stage was designed to simply measure the level of interest. Please ensure that if you do log your interest in being considered for one of these relocatable facilities, you inform chris.metherell@kent.gov.uk in order that he can ‘progress chase’ on your behalf.
Kent secures more Pre Games Training Camps nominations than any other county
Kent has more sports facilities able to host international athletes ahead of the London 2012 Games than any other county, following the announcement in early March that 31 venues across Kent and 5 from Medway have been selected as potential Olympic Pre Games Training Camps. This figure is greater than a number of regions, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) has chosen the facilities to be included in a guide that will be distributed to National Olympic Committees during the Beijing Games later this year. Athletes in a range of sports can then choose to stay and train in Kent before competing.
Kent County Council's Sport, Leisure and Olympics Service carried out detailed assessments of Kent's facilities, put them forward to LOCOG and worked with the venues and with LOCOG consultants over the past year to ensure they met the strict criteria to host athletes of international standard and have the correct facilities. Kent County Council will continue to promote those which were not included, to prospective visiting countries via its website and publications.
The full list of Kent venues that will be featured in the Guide can be found by following this link