By Paul Osborne

The British team has been revealed ahead of the the upcoming Inas Open European Athletics Championships in the Netherlands ©UKSAGreat Britain has announced its team for the upcoming Inas Open European Athletics Championships, an International Paralympic Committee (IPC) sanctioned event for athletes with an intellectual disability.

The event is scheduled to take place from June 11 to 15 in Bergen op Zoom, The Netherlands, and is expected to see around 152 athletes from 19 countries compete.

Performances at these Championships will prove vital for the British athletes as they count towards potential selection to compete at the 2015 Inas Global Games and, for some, the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

The team competing at the Championships was selected by the UK Sports Association for People with Learning Disability (UKSA) and is made up of a total of nine athletes from across the UK.

"Great Britain is fielding a powerful team of talented athletes who are all focussed on reaching the podium," said Tracey McCillen, chief executive of UKSA.

"The GB team is ready for success at the Championships; the team has demonstrated their ability to deliver on a national and international scale with some exceptional results.

"Expectations are high as they take their place amongst the world's best.

"I wish all the GB team the best of luck."

The GB team was selected by the UK Sports Association for People with Learning Disability,a national charity that promotes, facilitates and supports talented sports people with a learning disability in the UK to train, compete and excel in national and international sport ©UKSAThe GB team was selected by the UK Sports Association for People with Learning Disability,a national charity that promotes, facilitates and supports talented sports people with a learning disability in the UK to train, compete and excel in national and international sport ©UKSA



One athlete set to compete at the Championships is double gold medallist from the 2013 Mencap Open Athletics Championships at Woodside Stadium in Watford, Chloe Knight, who secured her golds in the long jump and triple jump events.

"I am delighted to have been chosen as part of the GB team," she said.

"It's such a great opportunity to be competing in these international Championships, I have put in the training and hard work and it is fantastic to see that it has paid off."

Knight is joined by double Inas world champion and the current reigning 100 metres and 200m European champion Marcel Hodge, who will be looking to retain his titles when the Championships get underway at Sportpark Rozenoord on Wednesday (June 11).

"As the current 100m and 200m European champion, I'm really hoping I can retain my titles, and it would be awesome to win the relay too!" he said.

"It's always an honour for me to represent GB, not many people can say they've done that!"

The GB team is led by team manager and head coach Paul Burns, along with coaches Christine Galloway and Tommy Patterson, who has been chosen to take part in the Commonwealth Games Queens Baton Relay.

The full GB team also features Martina Barber, a previous winner of a local Athlete of the Year award and a gold medal winner in the heptathlon at the 2013 Inas World Athletics Championships; Holly Durbidge, a current Inas European Athletics silver medallist, having taken part in the 4x200m relay at the 2012 competition in Gavle, Sweden; Robert Ferrol, three-time medallist at the seventh Inas World Athletics Championships; Aidan Turnbull; Declan Manning; Owen Miller; and Daniel Pass.

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