Birmingham Commonwealth Games athletes add UK heatwave to their list of challenges – صحيفة الصوت

The record temperatures in Britain have had mixed results on Australia’s Commonwealth Games hopefuls, with the opening ceremony now just a week away.

Wagga Wagga table tennis player Dillon Chambers, who spent much of his childhood in Mildura, said his team was the most competitive Australia has sent to the Commonwealth Games in years.

The 24-year-old is completing his preparation, feeling positive, and said that the record temperatures have not had much of an effect on the team in the lead-up.

“It was 40 [degrees Celsius] yesterday but the hall we train in is quite cool,” he said.

“We had nationals a couple of weeks ago and I played pretty well, so I’m feeling pretty good in the lead up.”

Now a resident of Germany, Chambers will compete in his first Commonwealth Games after representing Australia at two Junior World Championships in 2014 and 2015, as well as the 2019 Commonwealth Championships.

He won bronze in the U21 men’s singles at the 2018 Australian National Senior and Junior Championships.

Chambers said Australia’s team this year was more competitive than in previous years.

“I think we’ve got the best chance of doing well that we’ve had in a long time, or at lease as long as I’ve been in the sport,” he said.

Table Tennis at this year’s Games begins the day of the opening ceremony, July 28, and lasts until August 8.

Australia did not win any medals in Table Tennis at the 2018 Games, though para athletes Melissa Tapper won gold and Andrea McDonnell bronze in their event.

No home crowd this time

The Northern Grampians will also have one of its own to cheer on when the Commonwealth Games begins in England next week.

Thirty-year-old lawn bowler Aaron Wilson spent his first eight years in St Arnaud before picking up the sport from his brother in Bendigo.

Wilson is aiming to go back-to-back after winning gold in the men’s singles event on the Gold Coast in 2018.

But after having the home ground advantage at the last games, he said he will be fighting against that same advantage this time.

He said playing on English greens will be a challenge.

“We’ve had a 36 degree day in the UK recently so that’s different to past experiences over here,” he said.

“Foreign soil means the greens will be a lot slower, and we won’t have the local crowd voice as in the past.”

The 30-year-old starts his competition close to midnight Australian time on July 29.