From Western Magazine, New South Wales:

Twins Bernadette and Eliza-Jane Mills have been named in the Australian Pearls team to contest the World Intellectual Impairment Sport World Basketball Championships in Turkey in October.

The twins, 21, are relative veterans of the team, having played in countless international tournaments.

The Pearls – Australia’s national women’s basketball team for players with an intellectual disability – will head to Turkey ranked number one in the world as a result of gold medals at the 2011 World Intellectual Impairment Sport Global Games and the 2010 World Championships.

Long-serving head coach Larry Davidson has put together a talented side combining international experience and exciting young talent, and will look to the Mills twins to lead by example.

“Both Eliza and Bernie came into the side when they were around 15 or 16,” he said.

“They’re both very experienced and I will look to them to lead.

“Along with the other experienced players, I’d hope they’ll use that experience to guide our younger players around.”

Davidson’s request was justified, the twins believe, conceding the squad’s younger players would be anxious and in need of some guidance.

“They’ll be nervous,” Bernadette said.

“When I first went there I was overwhelmed.

“It’s a different level.”

“We’ll definitely look to help them,” Eliza added.

Davidson also heaped praise on the twins individually, highlighting their dedication as a main factor in their success.

“They’re both very athletic, determined young women,” he said.

“They’re rarely put off by anything, and both really get in and have a go.”

Davidson is under no illusions as to the size of the task facing his team, acknowledging their prospective opponents will be tougher than in previous competitions.

“The problem with playing the European nations is whether they have the money to send teams,” he said

“With the way the economic situation has been recently, when funds were low it has tended to be the women’s teams that get cut.

“But at the moment, it looks like most, if not all, involved nations will send teams.

“This means we’ll have a much tougher task ahead of us than perhaps we have in previous tournaments.

“And with that number one ranking all those teams will be out gunning for us.”

The twins agreed, pinpointing Russia and Japan as the Pearls’ main competition for a second consecutive title.

“Russia will be tough, if they come,” Eliza said.

“Japan too, they’re just little and fast,” Bernadette added.

While not getting ahead of herself Eliza conceded another gold medal is the ultimate goal.

“We’ve got to keep the record going,” she laughed.

“It’ll be tough,” Bernie added.

“But we never get sick of playing for Australia.”

Great Britain finished last week’s 5th World Intellectual Impairment Sport World Tennis Championships with an historic haul of three gold medals, as well as a silver and a bronze, after victories in the men’s singles and doubles finals capped a fantastic week for the Brits at the competition in Rakovnik, Czech Republic.

Great Britain had never won a medal at the event before but that changed when Fabrice Higgins finished as a triple world champion after winning gold in the men’s singles, men’s doubles and the team event.

With Chorley’s Higgins and Cheltenham’s Thomas Mellor having set up an all-British men’s singles final earlier in the week, their wait to decide the gold and silver medals ended in a 6-1, 6-0 victory for Higgins.

Higgins made another piece of history earlier in the week in his men’s singles semi-final after becoming the first player to ever beat the Czech Republic’s Ondrej Sedlisky in singles competition at an World Intellectual Impairment Sport event.

Mellor added his silver medal in the men’s singles to the gold medal he won alongside Higgins earlier in the week when they beat Australia’s leading players in both the semi-finals and final of the team event.

And Higgins claimed his third gold medal of the World Championships with another victory over Australian opposition when he partnered Birkenhead’s Peter Millar to beat Joshua Holloway and Mitchell James 7-5, 6-1 in the men’s doubles final.

“It was an incredible experience playing for Great Britain and it still hasn’t sunk in yet that I have won three gold medals. I have met lots of new friends who I hope to see again in future events and I have loved every second of it,” said Higgins.

“I enjoyed everything about this week taking part in the World Intellectual Impairment Sport World Championships in the Czech Republic. It was great meeting so many new people in tennis and I really enjoyed playing both singles and doubles as part of the GB team. I would like to say thank you to the Tennis Foundation and UK Sports Association for supporting us as we had great preparation for the event and I’m sure that helped us do so well,” added Millar.

Millar gained more success in the men’s consolation singles after beating Italy’s Antonio Catalano 6-4, 6-1. It was Millar’s second consolation singles win in an World Intellectual Impairment Sport event in three years after he also won the men’s consolation at the World Intellectual Impairment Sport Global Games in Italy in 2011. Millar was presented with a gold medal for his efforts, while fellow Brit Shain Lewis won the bronze medal for finishing third in the consolation singles.

Lewis and Mellor came close to another medal in the men’s doubles, but were beaten 6-1 in the bronze medal play-off by Australia’s Damien Phillips and Zvi Schweitzer.

“I’m extremely proud of the whole team, having worked with them closely in the build-up to the World Intellectual Impairment Sport World Championships,” said Team Manager Lesley Whitehead. “All the boys have done superbly and have all played a big part in what has been a historic week for British tennis in World Intellectual Impairment Sport competition. Hopefully this is just the beginning of more success to come at this level of competition.”

Results of the event can be found here.

The 9th Inas World Athletics Championships began on schedule yesterday, despite the extensive flooding faced by host city Prague (Czech Republic) in recent days.

The first gold went to Ryo Kaneko (Japan) who took the 10,000m title in a time of 33m 15 seconds.

Around 150 athletes representing 22 nations are competing at the event which runs until Saturday.

For results, photos and video of the event, visit the event website.

Jose Amaury Russo of Brazil has been elected the new President of Inas – the International Federation for sport for athletes with an intellectual disability within the Paralympic movement has confirmed – a role he will take with immediate effect.

He becomes Inas’ first President to be elected from outside of Europe in its 26 year history and will lead the organisation as it builds towards the Paralympic Games in Rio in 2016.

Russo, 59, was declared the winner in a close election contest with UK nominee Dr Geoff Smedley. He has more than 30 years experience in disability sport, including holding positions with the Brazilian Paralympic Committee and ABDEM (the Brazilian member organisation of Inas) and is a Director of ‘Piquesporte’ – a health and fitness facility in Sao Paolo.

As the results were announced he led a number of emotional tributes to former President Dr Bob Price OBE, who steps down after 6 years at the organisations helm. “You have led Inas through some difficult times and achieved so much. I will work hard to build on that success and behalf of all Inas athletes, I wish you well in your retirement”.

Further tributes were paid to Bengt Lindstedt (Sweden) and Michel Chopinaud (France) who also stepped down at this election.

Further appointments included Robyn Smith (Australia) who becomes Vice President, Karon Nicol (UK) and Barry Holman (USA) become Treasurer and Secretary General respectively and Prof. Jan Burns (UK) and Marc Truffaut (France) were re-elected to the posts of Head of Eligibility and Technical Officer.

Over the last two days, Inas has been meeting with NPC’s from across the Central Americas area to foster relationships and improve understanding of the athlete eligibility process.

Representatives from a number of NPC’s including hosts Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Panama and Nicaragua participated in the workshop and it is hoped to see greater opportunities for athletes with intellectual disabilities developing across the region in the future.

Nick Parr, Inas Executive Director talked about Inas’ aims for the future, following the recent publication of its new four year strategic plan, whilst Professor Jan Burns, Inas Head of Eligibility, talked about the process of eligibility.

The workshop followed the conclusion of the 2013 Central American Para-Games in San Jose, Costa Rica and was facilitated by Aimee Poyo – NPC Relations Co-Ordinator for the International Paralympic Committee.