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Totally gutted!

Wednesday, 8 February 2012

Matt Rollston suffered a shoulder injury and has been ruled out of a key tournament this week. 06986c

Promising paralympian tells of his anguish after injury could jeopardise his chances

RATHFRILAND wheelchair basketballer Matt Rollston admits he's "totally gutted" about having to pull out from the International Wheelchair Basketball Challenge this week due to injury.
Matt was due to play with the Great Britain team as part of a pre-paralympic warm-up tournament at the Antrim Forum from today (Tuesday) until Thursday.
However, only last week, he suffered a major setback when he was ruled out of the tournament due to a shoulder injury.
Matt, who currently plays wheelchair basketball with the Sheffield Stealers, told The Outlook that he is now focusing on keeping fit in the hope that he will be part of the GB team in the Paralympics in London in just over seven months time.
“I have been part of the GB team since 2007, but I have been playing basketball ever since I was a kid.
“Because I had only joined the team in 2007, I did not make the cut for Beijing however it was still early days then. But five years is a long time in development.
“I am totally gutted about not being able to play in this tournament.
“I have to have an operation on my shoulder next week. It has been an ongoing problem for a while but I thought that I could have got through with it.
“After the operation I have got three months' recovery time," which takes Matt up to the middle of May.
He has got his sights on being part of the GB team at the London 2012 Paralympics with the Wheelchair Basketball event being held from 30 August to 2 September.
“There is difficulty with injury in all sports and it is just something that we have to deal with all the time.
The 31-year-old explained that a fellow team mate suffered a shoulder injury seven months ago and is already back on fighting form, which gives him hope for the upcoming Paralympics.
“I am still hoping to be included in the 18-man squad as part of the GB team for the Paralympics.
“Our coach was meant to have named his squad in November, however he hasn't yet and he has it down to around 24 men at the minute," of which Matt is one of them.
Matt spent the 2010-2011 season playing with the Koeln 99ers in Bundesliga, Germany and travelled on 60 flights in six months, which shows his dedication to the sport. Matt will be at the tournament in the Antrim Forum this week to cheer on the athletes from Italy, Poland, GB and Turkey who are competing and is encouraging everyone to come out and support them.
The dates are:
n 7 February at 9am - GB vs Poland and at 3.30pm Italy vs GB
n 8 February at 10am - GB vs Turkey and the semi-finals at 4.45pm and 7pm
n 9 February - 12 noon - final.

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