Loughborough Lightning Wheelchair Basketball win back-to-back league titles
Loughborough Lightning Wheelchair Basketball secured consecutive league titles following another incredible campaign in the Women’s Premier League.
Saturday’s thrilling 75-47 play-off victory over East London Phoenix ensured that George Bates’ side claimed back-to-back titles in front of a raucous crowd at the National Championship Finals in Manchester.
The result capped a remarkable feat for a side who have now only lost one game over the past two seasons.
“I’m absolutely delighted to be back-to-back champions,” George Bates told Loughborough Sport.
“The hardest thing in sport is staying at the top with a big target on your back. The girls have worked so hard all year, through the highs and some lows, and I’m so proud of how the team have performed.
“It’s a special group of experienced athletes and others that are less experienced. It’s proved to be the perfect blend to achieve what we have this campaign.
“We’ll all enjoy this moment together but I’m already looking forward to the challenges that we will face next year.”
Loughborough is one of the country’s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines.
It has been awarded five stars in the independent QS Stars university rating scheme, named the best university in the world for sports-related subjects in the 2023 QS World University Rankings – the seventh year running – and University of the Year for Sport by The Times and Sunday Times University Guide 2022.
Loughborough is ranked 7th in The UK Complete University Guide 2023, 10th in the Guardian University League Table 2023 and 11th in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2023.
Loughborough is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK universities in the Times Higher Education’s ‘table of tables’, and in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 over 90% of its research was rated as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally-excellent’. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, Loughborough has been awarded seven Queen's Anniversary Prizes.
The Loughborough University London campus is based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and offers postgraduate and executive-level education, as well as research and enterprise opportunities. It is home to influential thought leaders, pioneering researchers and creative innovators who provide students with the highest quality of teaching and the very latest in modern thinking.
Loughborough Lightning Wheelchair Basketball secured consecutive league titles following another incredible campaign in the Women’s Premier League.
Saturday’s thrilling 75-47 play-off victory over East London Phoenix ensured that George Bates’ side claimed back-to-back titles in front of a raucous crowd at the National Championship Finals in Manchester.
The result capped a remarkable feat for a side who have now only lost one game over the past two seasons.
“I’m absolutely delighted to be back-to-back champions,” George Bates told Loughborough Sport.
“The hardest thing in sport is staying at the top with a big target on your back. The girls have worked so hard all year, through the highs and some lows, and I’m so proud of how the team have performed.
“It’s a special group of experienced athletes and others that are less experienced. It’s proved to be the perfect blend to achieve what we have this campaign.
“We’ll all enjoy this moment together but I’m already looking forward to the challenges that we will face next year.”
Loughborough is one of the country’s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines.
It has been awarded five stars in the independent QS Stars university rating scheme, named the best university in the world for sports-related subjects in the 2023 QS World University Rankings – the seventh year running – and University of the Year for Sport by The Times and Sunday Times University Guide 2022.
Loughborough is ranked 7th in The UK Complete University Guide 2023, 10th in the Guardian University League Table 2023 and 11th in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2023.
Loughborough is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK universities in the Times Higher Education’s ‘table of tables’, and in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 over 90% of its research was rated as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally-excellent’. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, Loughborough has been awarded seven Queen's Anniversary Prizes.
The Loughborough University London campus is based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and offers postgraduate and executive-level education, as well as research and enterprise opportunities. It is home to influential thought leaders, pioneering researchers and creative innovators who provide students with the highest quality of teaching and the very latest in modern thinking.
