City welcomes South African Olympic team

The South African team have been holding a pre-games training camp at Lisburn Racquets Club and Centre Manager Trevor Woods said it has been “a privilege” to welcome them.

“It has been absolutely fantastic having Olympians in the Racquets Club,” said Trevor.

“We have one men’s doubles team and one ladies doubles team and a coach with us and thanks to the support from DCAL, Sport NI and Lisburn City Council, this has been possible.

“The response from the team has been fantastic and their coach Stewart Carson has already said he would like to bring an Under 17 and Under 19 squad here for a tour and he has invited us to South Africa. A link has been made and it is a very good link.”

Those involved with the Racquets Club will be keen to watch the South African stars in action when their events get underway.

“Without a shadow of a doubt,” said Trevor, “we’ll be watching them. They know who they’re playing but not the schedule, although they could be playing on Saturday.

“The team have enjoyed the hospitality of Lisburn. They were in the Mall on Saturday night and they can’t believe how friendly everyone is.

“We want to wish them all the very best at the Olympics.”

An official welcome reception was held for the team at DCAL Offices in Belfast earlier this week.

The four Olympians are the Men’s Doubles, Dorian James and Willem Viljoen (ranked 48th on qualification) and Ladies Doubles Michelle Edwards and Annari Viljoen (ranked 44th on qualification) and were accompanied by their South African National Coach Stewart Carson.

Welcoming the Olympians, Mick Cory from DCAL said, “It’s an honour to welcome the South African Badminton Olympians to Northern Ireland and although they have a tight training schedule in Lisburn Racquets I know, like all our pre-games athletes, they have been keen to get away from the court and unwind during the important rest periods. Some of our visiting Olympians have visited Titanic Belfast or Giants Causeway and all of the pre-games camps have provided an opportunity for local athletes to train with and learn vital coaching techniques from the Olympians. Sport yet again is showing the rest of the world what a wonderful place Northern Ireland is to visit.”

Sentiments echoed by Dominic Walsh from Sport Northern Ireland, “As part of the pre-games training regime, the South African Olympians are playing competitive badminton matches against Ulster High Performance players including our Number 1, Tony Stephenson, who has just returned home from a full-time two year period in Denmark. Lisburn Racquets and Ulster Badminton have arranged a terrific pre-games environment.”