Southend's Paralympians Shine

I was privileged last weekend to see some of Team GB's in action over the weekend. Despite being one of the lucky recipients of tickets to the Olympic Stadium on Saturday morning, I was looking forward to seeing one of Southend's own in action..

Whilst Anna Sharkey may not be a household name to many, based in Westcliff and a physioptherapist at Southend Hospital, Anna is part of the Women's British Goalball team. Sharkey scored in the 7-1 defeat to China in their opening match and featured in the 1-1 draw with Finland.

Sharkey was also on the scoresheet again with a brace in the 3-1 Victory over Brazil. What was significant about this result was that it was Britain's first victory in any sport in Copperbox at either the Olympics or Parylympics and it was a privilege to witness the achievement. Hot off the press, this was followed up by a 5-0 victory over Denmark this morning with Anna bagging a hat-trick.

The atmosphere in the Olympic Stadium was electric and was right up there with some of the fantastic sporting moments that I have witnessed over the years. The scenes after Richard Whitehead's win in the Men's T42 200m Final will live long in the memory.

Following the Goalball, it was over to the Wheelchair Tennis at Eton Manor in the Olympic Park to see the legend in Men's Quad Singles Peter Norfolk in action. Now 51, Peter was was in fantastic form beating his opponent 6-0, 6-0 to advance to the quarter finals.

With a packed stadium I was unable to see the GB Men's 5-a-side team in action so the final action of the day was at the Basketball Area to the GB Men's Wheelchair Basketball in action against Poland. After defeats in their first two matches, this was a must win game. They didn't disappoint and were in scintillating form with an 87-58 victory to keep their medal hopes alive.

What struck me most was how physical Wheelchair Basketball is with one gentleman sitting next to me claiming that he had never seen sport so brutal since the Leeds United team of the 1960's! It is a good job then that he does not have tickets for the Wheelchair Rugby later this week because this sport wasn't once called murder ball for nothing!