Melbourne, Victoria, 22 July 2024 | Rhys de Deugd
The third annual BLV (Blind and Low Imaginative and prescient) Nationwide Championships passed off in Melbourne over the weekend with record-breaking attendance from throughout the nation.
The occasion, which featured 50 athletes, together with 32 from interstate, was the biggest draw within the competitors’s historical past and the primary time B2-4 classes hosted split-gender attracts in singles and doubles.
In one other tournament-first, a B1 division was added for athletes competing with no gentle notion of their imaginative and prescient.
Western Australia’s Ben Rowe was topped the inaugural B1 singles champion after performing a surprising acoustic rendition of the nationwide anthem on the match’s opening ceremony.
July 21: Inaugural B1 singles nationwide champion Ben Rowe on the 2024 Nationwide Blind and Low Imaginative and prescient Championships on the Nationwide Tennis Centre in Melbourne. Photograph by TENNIS AUSTRALIA/ HAMISH BLAIR
| Australian Blind and Low Imaginative and prescient Championships 2024 | ||
| Occasion | Champion | Runner-up |
| Division 1 junior singles |
Arato Katsuda-Inexperienced (NSW) | Ethan Prepare dinner (SA) |
| Division 2 junior singles | Matthew Divito (SA) | Leah Glassenbury (SA) |
| B1 open singles | Ben Rowe (WA) | Isaiah Muller (SA) |
| B2 males’s singles | Ethan Prepare dinner (SA) | Oliver Fanshawe (QLD) |
| B2-3 girls’s singles | Caroline Lane (VIC) | Courtney Webeck (NSW) |
| B3 males’s singles | Michael Leigh (NSW) | Reuben Fairbank (SA) |
| B4 girls’s singles | Grace Hobbs (NSW) | Madison Kelly (Vic) |
| B4 males’s singles | Ross Patterson (Vic) | Arato Katsuda-Inexperienced (NSW) |
| B1 open doubles | Isabella Allen (QLD)/ Tess Whelan(Vic) | Arthur Pirika(WA) /Nicole Muir (WA) |
| B2 males’s doubles | Ethan Prepare dinner (SA)/Oliver Fanshawe (QLD) | Ned Brewer-Maiga(Vic)/Scott Dann(QLD) |
| B2-4 girls’s doubles | Steve Obeid (Vic)/Matt Cameron (WA) | Jasper Steeds (Vic)/Adam Fayad (Vic) |
| B3-4 males’s doubles | Michael Leigh (NSW)/Ross Patterson(Vic) | Arato Katsuda-Inexperienced (NSW)/Sean Russo (NSW) |
> VIEW: Full outcomes from the 2024 Australian Blind and Low Imaginative and prescient Championships
New South Wales claimed bragging rights because the top-performing state/territory within the singles competitions and was awarded the Maurice Gleeson Cup for the second-consecutive yr.
The cup honours the massive contribution Maurice Gleeson OAM made to blind tennis over a few years and is awarded to the state/territory that performs the very best throughout all singles occasions. All gamers earn factors in direction of their state/territory group complete based mostly on their remaining placings and group measurement.
This yr’s occasion additionally featured 16 gamers who’re set to compete on the world stage on the IBTA World Championships in Italy from the 24-28 September.
The match was live-streamed every day with commentary on Tennis Australia’s YouTube channel.
Discover your method to play: Go to play.tennis.com.au to get out on court docket and have some enjoyable!
