It was a good weekend for Irish Para Athletes as they chase qualification for the 2020 Paralympic Games. Colin Judge had a brilliant result in the Polish Open as he emerged from the event as champion in both the singles and doubles event. The three person Irish Team that competed at the Power Lifting World Cup brought home a brilliant haul of 2 medals from the event for both Britney Arendse and Nicola Dore.
Colin Judge put a disappointing start to his season in Egypt behind him as he produced an incredible weekend of performances to clinch the title in both the singles and doubles events. Colin cruised through his group winning all 3 of his singles matches without dropping a game including a significant win over his Italian rival; Orsi. Colin maintained his blistering form in the knockouts beating both Jeong Soek from Korea and Polish athlete Nalepka 3-1 each before claiming the overall title against Jin Sung without losing a game in the final. More was to come from Judge though as he also competed in the doubles event with his teammate Ben Asor from Israel which they also went on to win the event with a 2-1 win over Serbia in the final.
Manchester was the venue for the Power Lifting World Cup event that acted as a curtain raiser for the Power Lifting season. A three strong Irish team attended the event and performed very well with medals coming home in the possession of Arendse and Dore. Britney Arendse produced a superb performance by lifting 100kg on her third lift which was enough to secure a brilliant silver medal despite her being significantly the youngest competitor in the field. Nicola Dore replicated Britney’s result with a second place finish in the 61kg category with her third lift of 67kg securing her a silver medal. The third Irish athlete, Oscar Hancock, also enjoyed a positive experience in the 65kg event and all three of the athletes will have gained a lot from the experience.
