Upminster local continues to shine on the world stage

Upminster youngster Olly Beadle has returned from The Special Olympic World Games 2015 in Los Angeles victorious after winning both the Level 5+ Men’s Singles Gold and the Level 5 Mixed Doubles Gold with partner Laura Campbell.

It was a very impressive performance from Beadle who had to come from behind in both sets in the final to defeat Tom Thierie of Belgium 6-2 6-4 after easily winning over his American first round opponent Jeffrey Scott 6-0 6-0.

In the mixed doubles, Beadle and Campbell overcame the Australian pairing of Michael Wren and Madison Wall 4-2 4-1 before having an arguably easier match against Israeli duo Nadav Sarfati and Ofir Avishay in the final, winning 4-0 4-0.

Beadle’s mum, Jackie, was understandably proud of her son, she said: “It was quite hot but not as hot as we’d thought it would be, it was still around 32 to 33 degrees.

“Playing tennis in those circumstances is quite challenging but he rose to the occasion wonderfully.

“They won the mixed doubles relatively comfortably but the men’s singles was a different kettle of fish. His opponent in the final match was very consistent and played really well.

“I had knots in my stomach during the Singles Final because he nearly went three games down in the first set and had to come back fighting to win it. It was a lot tougher than the score suggests!”

Beadle flew out to Los Angeles last month to compete in The Special Olympics, which was dubbed as one of the largest sporting events in the 2015 calender. 6,500 participants took part in the games from over 165 countries.

But the 16-year-old was not short of support despite being thousands of miles away from his home town in Essex.

“There was plenty of friends, family and coaches there supporting Olly,” said Jackie Beadle. “Lots of the crowd were cheering for him too. It was amazing when he won it, absolutely fantastic.”

But after such a big achievement on the world stage, what is next for Upminster’s very own gold medallist?

Jackie Beadle added: “We’re going to Bolton this weekend after only just recovering from coming back from the US so Olly can continue training with the Performance Development group. There’s a possibility he’ll be playing some more European and International matches.”

To find out more about the performances of Team GB at the Special Olympic World Games 2015, go to www.la2015.org.