Plymouth based Paralympic athlete receives Rio boost

Plymouth based, Paralympic table tennis player David Wetherill has secured a long term commitment from supply chain and logistics experts, LCP Consulting, to help support his goal to win a medal at the Rio Paralympics. The 23-year-old became famous at London’s Paralympics for what the Daily Mail described as the ‘shot of the tournament’ – a feat that attracted over 6 million views on YouTube.

The relationship between LCP Consulting and David, who is currently ranked 6th in the world in his class, began when he spoke at the company’s Executive Seminar at Trinity House in October 2012. LCP are sponsoring David’s table tennis bat and playing shirt; helping to fund David’s travel expenses and crucially allowing him to enter more tournaments in his build up to Rio 2016.

David is largely self-funded but does receive some financial support from UK Sport and has trained at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield for four years.

David comments: “I need as much match time as possible this year; whilst my long term goal is to win a medal at the Rio 2016 Paralympics; I am aiming to qualify for the World Championships in China next year. To do this, I need to be ranked in the top 12 and need to be in a position to train full time. I am very grateful to LCP Consulting for their support until the Rio Games – as this is going to make a huge difference.”

David was ranked 2nd in the world in 2010 but suffered a broken arm that compromised his preparations for London 2012. His main events this year are the German Open from 28th May – 2nd June, the Czech Open from 10th September – 15th September, and the European Championships from 29th September – 5th October.

Julian Mosquera, Director at LCP Consulting said: “Meeting David at our Executive Seminar, it was immediately clear that he is a great ambassador for his sport, with such a strong desire to achieve and be the best that he can be. These are values that LCP share and we are delighted to have the opportunity to support his endeavour. We look forward to following his future successes, and hopefully he will get on the podium in Rio.”