Day two of the Westfield Health British Transplant Games started early for the Dublin Adults with Noel Marsden reporting in for Table Tennis at 8.00am. After a 30 minute warm up it was time for competition and Noel stepped into the limelight.

He showed a steady nerve as he competed and his matches were competitive but Noel was up to the pressure and he came away with the GOLD MEDAL! He was done and dusted with the medal literally ‘in the bag’ as he headed off to find a well deserved breakfast at 10.15am!

We then had Finian up in the tennis. Finian is a man who gives across and air of calm and being in control. After a warm up it was time for competition. With 5 competitors in his category and a round robin being used to determine medals there were 4 matches to play and the key was going to be passing oneself successfully. Finian won his first match comfortably whilst his second match was a real nail-biter with Finian eventually coming out on top after a tie break. His opponent in the third match had won all his previous matches comfortably so we knew that it would be tough. Finian lost that match but rallied to win his fourth match. It had been a tight group but by virtue of his tie break win, Finian came away with the SILVER MEDAL. I was delighted to be asked to present the medals for Finian’s group – a great feeling to present a medal to one of your own team! It was a joy to see the delight shown by Finian’s wife and his two girls!

Speaking of supporters, the Irish were determined to make their presence felt at each venue and this was no different at the ten pin bowling which saw Ned Crowe and Charlie Ryan competing. The programme was running a little late but this did not distract our two guys. Both played well and Charlie came away with the GOLD MEDAL!

It had been a busy day of competition but it was not over yet… After a pit-stop for dinner it was off to darts. We had Ned, Mike, Charlie and Finian competing. With 64 men registered in one open age category it was always going to be a tough ask to progress through to the medal stages. The organisers made sure that there was a great buzz about the event as the participants literally competed on stage! The matches came thick and fast and our guys came out and competed well. Charlie managed to pick up a couple of early byes and when he came into the competition he progressed through to the semi finals where he was beaten by the eventual gold medal winner. At the medal ceremony Charlie came away with a BRONZE MEDAL.

Our first medal of the day was presented at 10am whilst our last medal of the day was presented at midnight and we had supporters at every venue throughout the day!

Tomorrow is another busy day with one of our juniors, Tara Madigan, stepping forward for her first competition in the pool.