By Tom Degun

April 29 - The Great Britain wheelchair tennis team has received a blow ahead of the 2010 Invacare World Team Cup in Antalya, Turkey, as the men’s world number one ranked quad wheelchair player Peter Norfolk (pictured) and women’s British number one wheelchair singles player Lucy Shuker are both set to miss this year’s tournament.



Britain goes into this year’s Invacare World Team Cup, which is due to start next Monday (May 3) and last until May 9, as the reigning champions in the quad event.

However, the team could struggle to defend their title without Paralympic champion Norfolk who will not be travelling to Turkey as he takes some time out to concentrate on his family.

Meanwhile, Shuker, who is currently ranked world number 12 in the women’s wheelchair singles rankings, misses the tournament as she concentrates her preparations on the upcoming Japan Open ITF Super Series event.

But, despite the absence of the two key players, Claire Lavers, the Tennis Foundation’s Director of Disability Tennis and Britain's manager, claimed that the team remain confident of achieving success at the prestigious event.

She said: "The focus this year is on developing our players and giving more of them experience of competing in this unique environment and at this level.

"Our men’s team is the same, so we want to consolidate our fifth position of last year.

"To progress in such a competitive division would be a major achievement.

"Without our top ranked quad player Peter Norfolk and women’s player Lucy Shuker, it will be hard to hold on to the respective gold and silver medal positions achieved in 2009, but we will give it our best shot."

In the absence of Norfolk and Shuker, the Tennis Foundation have selected a 12 strong squad featuring both youth and experience.

David Phillipson, Gordon Reid and Marc McCarroll, all of who are ranked in the world’s top 30, are set to lead the charge for the British men while Jordanne Whiley and Louise Hunt are both world top 20 players and members of the Britain team that reached a first ever women’s final in Nottingham last year.

Kay Forshaw, 40, will provide much needed experience for the women’s team while 12-year-old Alfie Hewitt makes his Invacare World Team Cup debut as a player for Britain a year after being the team mascot and leading the Great Britain squad out at the 2009 opening ceremony.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]