Shropshire Star

Shropshire's Tom, 12, has sights on Tokyo 2020 Paralympics

Shrewsbury's Tom Baines may be just 12-years-old but he already has his sights set on Tokyo 2020 and a medal in the Paralympics.

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The youngest person ever to be allowed to play wheelchair rugby at league level, Tom played for the first time in front of his friends at Packwood Haugh School, Shrewsbury, yesterday and the cheers raised the roof when he scored.

He joined team mates from the Rygbi Gogledd Cymru wheelchair rugby team and a star of the GB team, Ayaz Bhuta, in exhibition matches.

Ayaz was voted top player in the Wheelchair Rugby World Championships held in Denmark last August.

He was also part of the gold medal winning GB wheelchair rugby team at the first ever Invictus Games.

Tom, who plays in defence and has a special "bullbar" on his wheelchair to collide with other chairs to prevent goals, said it had been a great day.

"I have never played in front of my friends before. They were cheering when I did well and when I scored a goal," he said.

"I am training hard and would like to get to the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo."

He began playing wheelchair rugby when he was just six years old, a year after he suffered his spine injury. His father, Mark, introduced him to the sport and joined in yesterday.

Fellow team player and Paralympian, Tony Stackhouse from Queens Head, said Tom was an excellent player.

"As he is growing, he is getting stronger and fitter and that shows in his play. To be allowed to play in the league at the age of 12 is just phenomenal. He is a star."

Wheelchair rugby is also known as "murder ball".

It is fast and exciting, no-holds barred action in which players often crash into each other and regularly get tipped over in their wheelchairs.

It's certainly not for the faint-hearted.

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