SA team for IPC champs named

Cape Town - A team of 10 athletes will represent South Africa at the IPC Swimming World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland later this year.

The team will take on the world's top para-swimmers over a period of seven days from July 13-19.

More than 650 swimmers from at least 50 countries will take the plunge in one of the highlights on the International Paralympic Committee calendar.

The SA team for Glasgow includes seven men and three women.

Paralympians Kevin Paul, Hendrik Herbst and Achmat Hassiem are included in the men's line-up as is Paralympian Emily Gray.

The swimmers will use the same pool as that used for the Commonwealth Games last year.

However, the venue housing the 50m, 10-lane pool has been extensively refurbished and extended. Swimmers now also have a new 50m, six-lane warm-up and training pool at the world-class facility.

The last IPC Swimming World Championships were hosted by Montreal, Canada, two years ago, an event which saw 43 new world records being set and 172 gold medals handed out.

South African finished joint 22nd on the medals table in Canada with seven medals (one gold, two silver and four bronze).

SASCOC CEO Tubby Reddy said: 'Swimming has always been one of the codes which has made South African sport proud. This occasion should be no different. These are all top swimmers and I have no doubt that they'll grab a good few medals in Glasgow.'

Added SASCOC President Gideon Sam: 'We wish the team all the very best in Glasgow where our swimmers had a successful Commonwealth Games last year.

'With the retirement of some of our leading para-swimmers in the last while it's now up to this group of talented athletes to step up to the plate and show that they can still fly the SA flag proudly. We are only just over a year from the Rio Paralympics and this is an ideal platform for our para-swimmers to shine.'

The team will be managed by Dea Slattery and accompanied by coaches Karin Hugo, Delon Dannhauser, Sibani Makhanya and Theo Verster as well as physiotherapist Jessica Joffe.

SA team:

Men

Hendrik Herbst, Kevin Paul, Achmat Hassiem, Johann van Heerden, Challis Wright, Hendrik van der Merwe, James Bezuidenhout

Women

Emily Gray, Adri Visser, Beth Nothling