Leicestershire's Jurenko goes to Warsaw as the most decorated female tennis player in Special Olympics history, having won 12 major gold medals since joining Special Olympics in 2001. Earlier this week she was one of four SOGB team members bound for Warsaw who went to Downing Street to meet Prime Minister David Cameron before their departure for Poland on Wednesday.
Jurenko and Millar both won gold medals at the last Special Olympics World Summer Games in Shanghai in 2007 and along with their Great Britain team mates they have performed with distinction at the Tennis Foundation's annual National Learning Disability Tennis Event in Nottingham and at least year's Special Olympic National Summer Games in Leicester.
The six players will play in a combinations of singles, doubles and mixed doubles events in Poland.
“I was delighted to be able to meet our players and Lesley and Mathew in London this week before they left for Poland and to give them our best wishes,” said Claire Lavers, Director of Disability Tennis for the Tennis Foundation
“The Tennis Foundation is proud to work alongside Special Olympics athletes and coaches. For many years we have been working to increase the opportunities available in the sport for players with learning disabilities and I hope our GB Team has a highly rewarding time in Warsaw .”
The Games will officially begin when the Special Olympics cauldron is lit at the Opening Ceremony in the Legia Stadium, Warsaw on Saturday, using the ‘Flame of Hope’ which will have been carried across eight European countries, including Britain, in its penultimate stop earlier this week.
The competition begins on Sunday, when players begin two days of preliminaries before being banded into divisions alongside players of like tennis ability for the final three days of competition for medals.