The British Olympic Association (BOA) has confirmed seven further tennis players as selected to Team GB for the London 2012 Olympic Games. They join Andy Murray, who was announced as a member of Team GB last week, and bring the number of tennis players who will represent Team GB this summer to eight.
The athletes confirmed to Team GB today are:
British stalwarts Anne Keothavong and Elena Baltacha will compete in the women’s singles event, after being awarded wild cards by the International Tennis Federation (ITF). Keothavong and Baltacha have been at the forefront of British women’s tennis for over a decade, with both players looking to make a real impact on their Olympic debuts.
London 2012 represents an excellent opportunity for the two youngest members of the tennis team, Laura Robson and Heather Watson, to showcase their exciting talent and gain further experience of competing on the international stage. The pair will compete together in the women’s doubles competition, and will be looking to produce fine performances to reflect the bright future which both players have.
In the men’s doubles competition, Jamie Murray joins younger brother Andy, who has already been selected to compete for Team GB in the Olympic men’s singles competition this summer. The pair will be making their second Olympic appearance after playing together in the same event at Beijing 2008, and will be looking to reproduce the form they displayed last year when winning ATP tournaments in Metz and Tokyo.
Top-ranked men’s British doubles pair Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins complete the selection, and will also compete in the Olympic men’s doubles competition held at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, Wimbledon.
The confirmation of the seven additional tennis players brings the total number of athletes officially selected to compete for Team GB at London 2012 to 353 across 29 sport disciplines: archery, athletics – marathon, badminton, basketball, boxing, canoe slalom, canoe sprint, cycling, diving, equestrian – dressage, equestrian – eventing, fencing, football – women, handball, hockey, judo, modern pentathlon, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming, synchronised swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, triathlon, water polo, weightlifting and wrestling.
Team GB Chef de Mission Andy Hunt said:
Team GB Tennis Team Leader Paul Hutchins said:
British women’s number one Anne Keothavong said:
Elena Baltacha said:
Jamie Murray said:
Heather Watson said:
Laura Robson said:
Ross Hutchins said:
Colin Fleming said: