Great Britain players, including Finchley’s Esah Hayat, have completed the second World Deaf Tennis Championships with a haul of five medals across senior and junior events, including the gold medal in the junior mixed doubles in Saturday’s final afternoon of competition at Antalya Tennis Club in Turkey.
The four-strong squad, selected by the LTA, the governing body of tennis in Britain, won one gold medal, three silver medals and one bronze medal, with two of the silver medals coming in the senior men’s and mixed doubles.
Hayat, 17, and Phoebe Suthers, 16, from Yorkshire, who were crowned European junior mixed doubles champions in 2016, beat Czech second seeds Jaroslav Smedek and Katerina Blascikova 6-0, 6-7(6), (10-6) on Saturday afternoon to become World Champions and add to the boys’ singles silver and girls’ singles bronze medals they secured earlier on the last of the eight days of play.
The pair, who were gold and bronze medallists, respectively in their junior singles events at the first World Deaf Tennis Championships in Nottingham in 2015, end the latest championships with three medals apiece. They each partnered 34-year-old Lewis Fletcher to gain silver medals in the senior men’s doubles and mixed doubles finals on Friday’s penultimate day of competition.
Hayat finished runner-up in his second World Championships boys’ singles final as Czech top seed Smedek earned a narrow 7-6(5), 6-4 victory.
He said: “I’ve had a great week and am really pleased with getting two silvers and a gold. We have all come through some close battles this week and we’ve worked well as a team to get our medals. In my opinion, GB is becoming a stronger team on the world stage every year, and we will be working hard for more medals next year’s European Championships.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here