Silver lining for Team Bath MCTA Tennis ace Alex Walker at World University Games

12 July 2015

She may have missed out in the final but Team Bath MCTA Tennis ace Alex Walker is still returning from the World University Games in Gwangju, South Korea with a superb silver medal.

Walker, studying a Masters in Business at the University of Bath, and partner Darren Walsh went down 6-2 6-3 to Lidziya Marozava and Andrei Vasilevski of Belarus in Sunday’s gold-medal match.

But that result could not detract from a fantastic tournament for Walker and Walsh, as well as Team Bath MCTA Director of Tennis Barry Scollo who is coaching the British team in Gwangju.

“We’ve had a really good tournament but we didn’t quite get going in that first set which put us on the back foot,” said Walker.

“But it is still a fantastic achievement to get this far and walk away with a silver medal.”

Scollo added: “It was a great performance from Alex and Darren, and also a fantastic way for Alex to end her university career – she has now won a medal in pretty much every competition a student tennis player can enter.”

Meanwhile, Lynne Hutchison – who trains and coaches with City of Bath Rhythmic Gymnastics Club at the Sports Training Village – finished 25th overall in the individual all-round event.

Alex Walker (left) and Darren Walsh (right) with Team Bath MCTA Director of Tennis Barry Scollo, who coached the British team in Gwangju
Alex Walker (left) and Darren Walsh (right) with Team Bath MCTA Director of Tennis Barry Scollo, who coached the British team in Gwangju

The London 2012 Olympian’s best score of 14.700 came in the clubs. She also scored 14.600 in ribbon on Sunday, having been awarded 14.100 in both the hoop and ball on Saturday.

Earlier in the week, swimmer Jay Lelliott had narrowly missed out on a third medal of the Games when he was edged into fourth in the 1,500m freestyle final.

The Sports Performance student, who won 400m freestyle gold and 800m freestyle silver, was also part of the British 4x100m medley relay team which finished fifth overall.

Lelliott – coached by Mark Skimming, who also worked with the British swimming team in Gwangju – is supported by a Santander Sports Scholarship.

Training partner Thomas Tsiopanis, representing Cyprus, was fourth in his 400m individual medley heat in 4:31.78. He also studies Sports Performance.

Chemical Engineering student Angus Pedersen – the youngest member of the British badminton squad in Gwangju – put up a good fight alongside Matthew Carder in the first round of the men’s doubles.

After losing the first set 21-17 to Brazil’s Leonardo Alkimin and Luiz Santos Jr, they rallied to win the second 22-20 but went down 21-10 in the decider.

Pedersen, coached by Pete Bush, is supported by a Trendell Sports Scholarship and the Dual Career programme at the University of Bath.

Integrated Mechanical & Electrical Engineering student Kristian Callaghan was unable to progress through qualification in the 25m standard pistol or 10m air pistol but produced some good scores against world-class opposition.

There are nine students, athletes and coaches from the University of Bath attending the Games – visit http://www.teambath.com/sport/student/world-university-games/ for further details.

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