THREE SILVERS FOR BRITAIN'S STUDENTS ON DAY FIVE
By Lee Taylor | 16 August 2007
Great Britain won three more medals to add to their tally on day five of the World University Games in Bangkok, Thailand, to take their medal haul to six.
Sprinter, Kadi-Ann Thomas, swimmer Andrew Hunter and shooting's Rachel Parish all claiming the silver medal in their respective events.
In the pool, Hunter touched home in 1:48.17 - a personal best - to win silver in the 200m freestyle. The European silver medallist had earlier done just what he needed to qualify, and had therefore kept some in reserve for the medal race. On the final turn, Hunter was off the pace but one last effort in the final 50m saw him finish second behind Adam James Ritter of the USA.
"He swam a tactical race this morning and it’s paid off," said Team Manager, Ciaran O’Brien. "As with all the finals at this event so far, the standard was incredibly high and so to win a sliver medal is a great achievement for him," he added.
On the track, Kadi-Ann Thomas produced a great run to record a personal best time of 23.28 seconds and come second behind Iryna Shtangyeyeva of the Ukraine in the women’s 200m. Thomas had earlier come second in her semi-final to qualify, and she did so again to grab Britain’s second medal on the track at these Games.
“I’m delighted to have medalled here,” said the Marshal Milton Keynes runner. “I’ve never had to run four times in a single event and to do so over two days is tough,” she added. “However, it was the same for everyone and I’m so pleased with my performance.”
Britain’s third medal of the day was claimed by Rachel Parish in the women’s double trap. The Commonwealth gold medallist finished on 96 points, just four behind winner Janejira Srisongkram of the host nation whom she pushed all the way to the end.
“I was disappointed because I was ahead going into the final round but I’m still pleased that I did enough to come away with a medal,” said the Southampton University student.
Meanwhile Joe Roebuck (Loughborough) reached the final of the 400m individual medley in the pool, coming seventh, and in diving, Stacie Powell (Southampton University) qualified for the final of the 10m platform.
There was further action on the track as Darren Chin (St.Mary’s) finished sixth in the men’s 200m, and Steve Green (Bath) unfortunately fell on the home straight of the 400m hurdles. Jermaine Mays (University of the Arts) finished tenth in the 3,000m steeplechase, whilst Richard Hill (UWIC), Charlotte Best and Laura Finucane (both Loughborough) all made the final of their respective 800m events.
Roberts Searle (Rice University) had a mixed day on the tennis court as first he won through to the men’s singles quarter-finals with a 7-6 6-2 victory over Chekhov of Russia, before having to play his men’s doubles last eight clash little over an hour later. In the searing heat, Searle and partner Colin Fleming (Stirling) lost out 3-6 6-7 to the number one seeds from the host nation, brothers Sanchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana.
Elsewhere, it was a disappointing day for Britain’s footballers as both sides lost their quarter-finals by a goal to nil. The men fell behind with just five minutes to go against Canada, whilst the women were unable to cancel out an early strike by their opponents, Russia.
Britain’s badminton challenge came to an end as both Andrew Wright (Bath) in the men’s singles, and Matt Honey and Heather Olver (Bath and Bath Spa) in the mixed doubles, fell to Thai opposition in the last 16, whilst in Judo, Andrew Burns in the -100kg class and Sian Wilson (both Bath) in the -78kg, fell at the same stage.
