Matlock athlete proud to receive Great Britain call for quad-nations wheelchair rugby tournament

A Paralympic athlete and serviceman from Matlock has been selected to represent Team GB in the King Power Quad Nations wheelchair rugby tournament.

Former army serviceman and father-of-two, Ryan Cowling, will be representing his country again to play against Japan, Canada and France at the beginning of March.

Ryan, who was injured while in the army, joined the GB Talent Development Squad in 2014 and went onto be the team’s captain before being asked to join the main GB squad a year later.

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His international debut was in a friendly match vs Denmark and he was then selected to attend the Rio 2016 Test Event in February 2016. The team finished first and took home the gold at the Test Event.

Ryan returned to Rio in September 2016 where he made his debut as part of the Paralympic squad and was part of the team who successfully defended their title at the European Championships in 2017.

Last year he played in the inaugural Quad Nations Event held in Leicester, and has said he is thrilled to be back again for a second chance to take the title from current champions Japan.

“To be chosen for a second time to represent your team is very much an honour, and we shall be up against some of the top athletes in the world. We hope to get a lot of support again this year so want to encourage as many people as possible to come along on one of the days to cheer us on,” said the 43-year-old.

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The tournament will be held at Leicester’s Morningside Arena between 1st-3rd March.

GB will play Japan, who won the gold medal at the World Wheelchair Rugby Championships held in Sydney last summer, World No.4 Canada and World No.7 France.