IBSA World Games 2023 concludes in Birmingham
- Peter Harding
- Sep 4, 2023
- 3 min read
Over the weekend, the seventh edition of the IBSA World Games came to an end at Billesley Indoor Tennis Centre, Birmingham, with Great Britain winning 11 medals in the tennis event.
With more than 1,250 athletes from 70 nations projected to participate, the Games hosted three paralympic and seven non-paralympic sports including visually impaired (VI) tennis, regulated by the International Blind Tennis Association (IBTA).
Recognised as the summit of all international competitions for athletes with a visual impairment (VI) outside the Paralympic Games, the seventh edition of the IBSA World Games saw 13 tennis players fly the British flag, contributing two gold, five silver, and four bronze to Britain’s overall medals tally in both the singles and doubles.
The format of VI tennis is subject to change based on the set sight categories that the players compete within. Depending on a player’s category they may have up to three bounces of the ball before they return it back to their opponent. In the B1 category, for those having the greatest degree of sight loss or no sight, three bounces of the ball are allowed, and players typically wear eye masks. B2, B3, B4 and B5 categories are contested by players with different degrees of partial sight, with B2 players allowed three bounces, B3 players allowed two bounces and B4 and B5 players allowed one bounce of the ball.
The IBTA World Championships titleholder, Amanda Large, held onto her gold medallist status after defeating the Netherlands’ Liz Conzemius 4-1 4-1 in the final of the women’s B2 singles event. The success didn’t stop there for the Mancunian, however, after finishing runner-up in the B2/4 women’s doubles draw alongside the highly decorated Rosie Pybus.
Pybus who, much like Large, is accustomed to representing her country on the international stage, returned from a shoulder injury to contend in just her second tennis tournament since her brief hiatus away from the courts. Despite being forced to step away from preparations in the lead up to the IBSA World Games, the Middlesbrough-born player soon slipped into old habits to ultimately defeat Ireland’s Riya Devereux, winning 3-5 4-2[11-9] to claim the bronze in the women’s singles B4/5.
“I focus less on the outcomes now and more on the process as part of the sport psychology that I have been working on,” explained Pybus. “It’s about learning, developing, and trying to play the point in front of you as opposed to thinking too far ahead. I just take it one shot at a time.”
B1 athlete Monica Smith, who picked up a racket a mere five years ago, made a scintillating debut in a GB shirt after winning silver in the B1 women’s singles and gold in the mixed doubles side by side with the talented Naqi Rizvi, a British-based player who’s no stranger to LTA tournaments despite choosing to represent his native Pakistan in Birmingham.
Despite suffering a close 5-4 5-2 defeat to Italy’s Daniela Pieri in the singles, Smith got her vengeance in the mixed doubles after the British/Pakistanis pair beat Pieri and Spain’s Carlos Arbos Ginard to the gold medal in a 7-6 thriller.
Andrea Logan also claimed one of five silver medals in the B3 women’s singles after her win over Germany’s Charlotte Schwagmeier, while Sarah Fortescue won bronze in the same event after her effortless commanding 4-1 4-0 victory over Ireland’s Marguerite Quinn.
Meanwhile, in both the B3 and B4/5 men’s singles events, two silver medals were awarded to the GB camp after Neil Balmforth (B3) overcame Michael Leigh 5-4 4-2, while Ivan Rodriquez-Deb (B4/5) dispatched Ross Patterson in a comfortable 4-1 4-0 triumph.
Balmforth and Rodriquez-Deb also joined their fellow Brits in realising double delight on the final day of the IBSA World Games after teaming up to win bronze, beating compatriots Daniel Hopkins & Paul Ryb 6-2 in their B2/4 men’s doubles play-off.
Elsewhere, former B1 singles National Finals semi-finalist Gavin Griffiths and champion Yvette Priestley claimed bronze after defeating Britain’s own Tracy Compton and Anthony Harrison 6-3 in the B1 mixed doubles.
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