Norfolk Olympian gives special training session

Current Commonwealth champion Colin Oates took time off from training in Scotland to visit Breckland Leisure Centre and give youngsters a special training session.

Some 90 junior players attended a three-hour session also attended by World Visually Impaired Bronze medalist Jonathan Drane who had just returned from Brazil with a Grand Prix gold medal.

The session contained youngsters from Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, many of whom had been selected for an Eastern Counties Team to fight in Ede Holland an International Tournament that attracts an average of 600 players from across Europe.

Drane is currently in pole position for Paralympic qualification in 2016 while Oates must remain in the top 30 of the World rankings over the next 12 months, where he is currently ranked sixth.

Oates is set to return to action in Croatia in May while Drane’s next event will be the World Games later in the year.

n Earlier this month the Lopham and Diss based Kumo Judo Club’s rising stars Lewis Eaton-Cole took a silver medal and Tom Harmer took gold at a novices tournament in Thetford, while Joe Terry won three contests in Sheffeild at the British Schools National Championships before losing for bronze.